THE  SEEN  AND  THE 

UNSEEN 

FROM  THE   RELIGIOUS  WRITINGS   OF 

W.  ROBERTSON  NICOLL 


NEW  YORK 
GEORGE   H.   DORAN  COMPANY 


This  book  of  extracts,  made  by  wife  and 
daughter,  contains  matter  from  his  books,  from 
"The  British  Weekly?  and  from  stray 

sources. 

C.  R.  N. 

G.  M. 

THE  OLD  MANSE 
LUMSDEN. 


Made  and  Printed  in  Great  Britain. 
Hazell,  Watson  &  Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Aylesbury. 


TO 

HIS  MANY   SCOTTISH  FRIENDS 


6G5759 


CONTENTS 

I 
INFLUENCES 

PAGE 

MY    MASTERS     ......  3 

MY    FATHER      ......  9 

GIFTED    FOR    FRIENDSHIP      .  .  .  .II 

THE    BIBLE          ......  14 

ABOUT    CERTAIN    BOOKS          .               .               .  2O 

MY    PUBLISHER              .....  32 

WONDERFUL    MEN         .....  34 

COUNTRY    MINISTERS  .....  45 

REMEMBERED    SERMONS           ....  48 

INNOCENT    MEMORIES               •              •              •              •  55 

II 

THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

WORK      .......  6l 

CIRCUMSTANCE                .....  65 

DELIGHT               ....'.  73 

DISCIPLINE          ......  75 

PRAYER  .......  79 

HYMNS    .......  9O 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

SAINTS 93 

SIN    AND    SALVATION  .  .  .  .98 

1.  THE    ATONEMENT     ....  98 

2.  THE    BURDEN    OF    SIN  .  .  .  IOO 

3.  COMING    TO    CHRIST  .  .  .  IO2 

4.  KEPT    IN    THE    FAITH  .  .  1 04 
MYSTICS    AND    MYSTICISM     .  .  .  .  IO8 
THE    HAPPY    POSTURE              .  .  .  .  Il6 

III 

PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

THE  CHURCH  .          .          .  .  .  .121 

THE  CURE  OF  SOULS     .  .  .  .137 

IN  THE  PULPIT    .    .  .  .  .152 

GENERALS  OF  THE  CHURCH  .  .  .164 

THE  PREACHER'S  READING  .  .  .167 

EMINENT  PREACHERS    .  .  .  174 

IV 
IMMORTALITY 

BEREAVEMENT  .  .  .  .  .  .183 

DEATH    .......        195 

THE    NEW    COUNTRY  .  .  .  .       2OI 

.       215 


CONTENTS  ix 

V 

COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

PAGE 

SHORT   MEDITATIONS               .             .             .             •  2IQ 

A    WORD   TO    THE    OLD          ....  226 

A    WORD    TO    THE    MIDDLE-AGED  .              .              .  228 

A    WORD    TO    THE    YOUNG     ....  230 

GREAT    WRITERS  .  .  .  .  .23! 

TWO    CARDINALS           ...'..  236 

MIGHTY    WORKERS      .....  237 

EASTER  .......  240 

CHRISTMAS-TIDE           .....  242 

VIGNETTES          ......  246 

VISIONS                 ......  253 

GOOD    CHEER     ......  258 

VI 
THINKING  IT  OVER 

SOME    RECOLLECTIONS              ....  269 

RAMBLING    REMARKS                 ....  279 

THE    INNERMOST    ROOM          ....  288 
A    PAIR    OF    SPECTACLES         .              .              .              .291 

A    HUMBLE    AND    FERVENT    WISH    .              .              .  293 

A    SUMMING-UP              .....  294 


In  Memory  of  W.  Robertson  Nicoll. 

TT WRITING  as  I  do  from  the  shire  of  the  home 
and  of  the  University  which  trained  him  for 
his  career,  I  think  first  of  his  strenuous  life  as  a  school- 
boy and  student  in  conditions  which  demanded  faith, 
courage,  and  a  spirit  of  prayer  and  sacrifice,  both  from 
the  students  themselves  and  from  their  families.  And 
these  virtues  characterised  him  to  the  end  of  his  life. 
But  he  had  in  addition  a  genius  all  his  own.  I 
remember  while  he  was  still  a  young  minister  at 
Dufftown  hearing  him  preach  in  Free  St.  George's, 
Edinburgh,  and  being  struck,  boy  as  I  was,  with  the 
originality  of  his  sermon.  This  quality  he  has  pre- 
served throughout.  But  he  combined  that  belief 
in  himself  to  which  he  had  good  right  with  what 
does  not  always  accompany  it  in  men  of  originality — 
a  most  generous  power  of  appreciating  others,  and  not 
only  for  their  achievements,  but  also  for  their  promise. 
His  wide  versatility  has  already  had  full  testimony 
borne  to  it,  but  there  were  in  him  what  do  not  always 
go  with  such  versatility,  fundamental  loyalties,  both  to 
principle  and  practical  aims  for  impressing  these 
principles  upon  the  life  of  his  people  and  carrying 
them  out  in  action.  With  him  there  dies  a  singular 

xi 


xii         W.   ROBERTSON  NICOLL 

mass  of  knowledge,  both  literary  and  personal,  and  an 
individuality  without  its  exact  match  in  our  time. 
I  mourn  besides  the  loss  of  one  of  the  most  just 
and  helpful  friends  I  have  ever  had. 

GEORGE  ADAM  SMITH. 
From  "  The  British  Weekly"  May  loM,  1923. 


I.    INFLUENCES 


I 1 


€        C      «     «c      «          « 


MY  MASTERS 

"  That  simplicity  which  is  the  last  step  of  Art." 

CHARLES   HADDON  SPURGEON 

i 
The  Tower  Falls. 

T  TE  has  fallen  like  a  tower,  and  his  removal  means 
•*•  •*•  for  many  a  change  in  the  whole  landscape  of 
life. 

Two  orators  of  the  first  rank  haVe  appeared ,' iti 
our  time  :  Mr.  Bright  and  Mr.  Spurgeon.  Spurgeon' s 
marvellous  voice,  clear  as  a  silver  bell  and  winning 
as  a  woman's,  rose  up  against  the  surging  multitude, 
and  without  effort  entered  every  ear. 

Mr.  Spurgeon's  almost  supernatural  keenness  of 
observation  was  a  great  element  of  his  influence.  A 
well-known  neighbour  of  his  has  never  been  able  to 
recognise  his  members,  because  he  cannot  recall  faces. 
It  is  not  a  fault  ;  but  it  is  a  misfortune.  Mr.  Spurgeon 
at  one  time,  as  he  sat  on  his  platform,  could  name 
every  one  of  his  five  thousand  members.  He  also 
remembered  even  visitors  with  whom  he  had  a  very 
slight  acquaintance  ;  and  when  they  came  to  the 
Tabernacle  instantly  detected  them.  He  was  pretty 
sure  to  contrive  some  way  of  making  signs  to  them 

3 


4  INFLUENCES 

before    the    service    ended — in    manners    sometimes 
quaint  enough. 


His  Triumphing  Message. 

1X/TR.  SPURGEON  always  made  salvation  a 
-L*A  wonderful,  a  supernatural  thing — won 
through  battle  and  agony  and  garments  rolled  in 
blood.  That  the  blood  of  God  should  be  one  of  the 
ordinary  forces  of  the  universe  was  to  him  a  thing 
incredible. 

This  great  and  hard-won  salvation  was  sure  ;  that 
is,  /*it;jdjd:not  stand  in  the  creature";  it  rested 
absolutely ''with  God.  It  was  not  of  man,  nor  of  the 
'  Witt  pf  iher.flesh.  Mr.  Spurgeon's  hearers  had  many 
of  them  missed  all  the  prizes  of  life  ;  but  God  did  not 
choose  them  for  the  reasons  that  move  man's  prefer- 
ence, else  their  case  was  hopeless.  Their  election  was 
of  grace.  And  as  He  chose  them,  He  would  keep 
them.  The  perseverance  of  the  saints  is  a  doctrine 
without  meaning  to  the  majority  of  Christians.  But 
many  a  poor  girl  with  the  love  of  Christ  and  goodness 
in  her  heart,  working  her  fingers  to  the  bone  for  a 
pittance  that  just  kept  her  alive,  with  the  temptations 
of  the  streets  around  her,  and  the  river  beside  her, 
listened  with  all  her  soul  when  she  heard  that  Christ's 
sheep  could  never  perish.  Many  a  struggling  trades- 
man tempted  to  dishonesty,  many  a  widow  with 
penury  and  loneliness  before  her,  were  lifted  above 
all,  taught  to  look  through  and  over  the  years  coming 


MY  MASTERS  5 

thick  with  sorrow  and  conflict,  and  anticipate  a  place 
in  the  Church  Triumphant. 


DR.  J.   M.   NEALE 
A  Gatherer  of  Pearls. 

TO  him  it  was  given  to  know  that  the  old  books 
are  better  than  the  new.  He  turned  back  to 
times  where  thought  was  deeper,  more  believing,  more 
holy.  He  gathered  the  pearls  buried  in  the  field 
which  few  feet  but  his  own  had  trodden.  In  his 
writings  he  was  always  forward  to  say  that  nothing 
which  he  published  was  original.  In  a  sense  that  was 
no  doubt  true,  but  in  another  sense  it  was  absolutely 
untrue.  For  Dr.  Neale  had  the  magical  art  of  taking 
comparatively  commonplace  and  lustreless  matter 
into  his  hands  and  passing  it  out  ablaze. 


A  Darling  Clearness. 

IT  is  impossible  to  be  too  enthusiastic  about  his 
style  in  prose  and  poetry.  It  was  a  style  of 
exquisite  simplicity.  It  had  all  the  appearance  of 
inevitableness.  So  lucid  was  it  that  readers  are  at 
first  tempted  to  believe  that  it  came  very  easily,  and 
that  it  might  be  reproduced  without  trouble.  Dr. 
Neale's  style,  on  the  contrary,  was  the  most  difficult 
style  on  earth  to  imitate.  His  simplicity  was  that 
simplicity  which  is  the  last  step  of  art,  though  it  may 
at  times  be  the  first  step  of  nature.  To  put  it  differ- 


6  INFLUENCES 

ently,  he  resembles  Mark  Rutherford  in  this  respect, 
that  to  change  a  word  in  almost  any  of  his  sentences 
is  to  spoil  everything.  Again  and  again  I  have  turned 
over  in  my  mind  sentences  of  Neale  with  an  uncom- 
fortable sense  that  one  word  or  two  words  have  gone 
wrong  in  my  memory.  Till  I  got  them  right  the 
sentence  was  not  musical  or  satisfying,  but  on  turning 
to  the  original  the  solution  was  so  plain  that  one  was 
amazed  to  have  missed  it.  Dr.  Neale  used  no  out- 
of-the-way  expressions.  The  ordinary  English  tone 
was  enough  with  him  to  secure  the  most  dazzling, 
or  rather  I  should  say  the  most  perfect,  effects. 


MARK   RUTHERFORD 


Preacher  and  Guide. 

ALL  through  his  books  are  little  sermons  and 
reflections    on    texts,    which    show    what    a 
preacher  he  would  have  made. 

Is  there  more  than  this  ?  There  was  more.  No 
one  knew  better  than  he  the  world  of  forlorn  hopes, 
insatiable  desires,  and  restless  yearnings.  But  there 
were  signs  that  for  him  the  discords  were  resolved  into 
harmonies  of  spiritual  beatitude — that  he  found  the 
path  which  the  vulture's  eye  hath  not  seen,  and 
attained  to  the  rest  of  faith.  He  writes  at  times  as 
one  who  has  seen  the  Everlasting  Rose,  as  one  who 
could  say  to  a  hostile  world,  "  He  whose  name  is 


MY  MASTERS  7 

Legion  is  at  our  doors  deceiving  our  intellects  with 
subtlety,  and  flattering  our  hearts  with  beauty  ;  and 
we  have  no  trust  but  in  Thee." 


ii 

The  Unswerving  Pencil. 

T  TIS  achievement  is  after  the  manner  of  Giotto's  O. 
•*•  •*-  There  is  little  adornment  or  embroidery, 
but  the  pencil  never  swerves,  and  the  round  is  always 
perfect.  Only  the  careless  will  be  deceived  by  the 
apparent  simplicity  of  the  accomplishment ;  it  is  the 
simplicity  which  is  the  last  result  of  art.  It  is  with 
nothing  short  of  wonder  that  one  finishes  a  book  of 
which  almost  every  sentence  is  in  its  final  form.  The 
style  is  capable  in  the  author's  hands  of  producing  any 
effect  5  fire  and  colour  come  when  they  are  needed, 
and  with  the  utmost  reserve,  self-restraint,  and 
economy,  Mark  Rutherford  everywhere  shows  himself 
a  magician.  No  one  will  think  that  we  disparage  our 
younger  stylists  in  saying  that  beside  him  they  are 
all  children.  In  some  of  them  the  show  of  power  is 
greater  ;  there  is  more  complexity,  more  enrichment, 
and  far  more  visible  effort.  Here,  indeed,  there  is  no 
effort  and  no  pretentiousness,  yet  whoever  wishes  to 
understand  the  possibilities  of  the  English  tongue 
should  give  his  days  and  nights  to  the  study  of  Mark 
Rutherford.  His  secret,  however,  will  not  be  dis- 
covered in  that  way.  For  it  is  spiritual.  Here  is 
one  among  us  who,  to  use  his  own  words,  speaks  the 


8  INFLUENCES 

veritable  reality.  He  has  the  power  denied  to  so  many 
of  at  once  clutching  the  heart.  You  feel  as  you  go 
on  that  you  are  reading  with  exposed  nerves  ;  and 
you  lay  down  the  book  thrilled  and  shaken — never 
to  be  again  quite  what  you  were  at  its  beginning. 


MY  FATHER 

"  The  mingled  hope  and  awe  which  seemed  to  make  up  his 
religion  were  always  in  evidence." 

THE  REV.   HARRY  NICOLL 

(Lumsden,  Aberdeenshire) 

A  Free  Church  Minister. 

T  TE  judged  his  lot  ideal,  and  all  he  asked  from 
•*•  •*•  Providence  was  that  things  should  not  grow 
worse.  Though  he  had  few  possessions,  everything 
was  prized  to  the  full.  When  he  compared  his 
allotment  with  that  of  others  he  compassionated  the 
others.  He  had  no  envy,  and  no  jealousy  of  men  in 
more  prominent  positions.  Rather  he  was  sorry  for 
them,  because  they  could  not  possibly  have  time  enough 
for  reading.  He  coveted  nothing  for  his  children  but 
that  they  should  enjoy  a  life  like  his,  and  deeply 
regretted  their  removal  to  more  obtrusive  activities. 
His  little  manse,  I  see,  he  noted  in  his  diary  when 
he  entered  it,  as  "  a  most  comfortable  and  com- 
modious residence.  Thanks  be  to  God."  And  this 
was  the  constant  temper  of  his  mind. 

The  scholar  was  my  father's  hero,  and  when  he 
had  a  scholar  in  his  company  he  unconsciously  behaved 
as  one  who  had  to  make  the  very  best  of  an  oppor- 
tunity that  would  soon  pass,  and  learn  as  much  as 

9 


io  INFLUENCES 

possible.  The  other  successes  and  dignities  of  life 
hardly  entered  into  his  mind,  and  did  not  enter  at  all 
into  his  manner. 

My  father,  as  far  as  I  could  ever  see,  had  no  literary 
ambition  whatever,  except  perhaps  the  ambition  to 
know.  This  marks  him  sharply  off  from  almost 
every  other  human  being  I  have  encountered. 

He  went  twice  a  year  to  the  Synod  at  Aberdeen, 
had  a  round  of  his  booksellers  and  invariably  ordered 
many  duplicates,  the  carrier  delivered  the  book  parcels 
on  Thursday,  and  it  was  the  rule  that  I  should  go  up 
for  them,  and  bring  them  down  and  be  present  at 
the  opening.  But  on  the  Thursdays  after  the  Synod, 
my  father  went  up  a  private  lane  with  a  wheelbarrow 
and  brought  the  books  home  with  a  guilty  countenance. 

It  was  etiquette  that  none  of  us  should  appear  to 
know  anything  about  those  proceedings.  But  at  last 
his  conscience  became  easy.  He  said  to  me,  "  You 
are  never  safe  with  only  one  copy  of  a  good  book." 


GIFTED  FOR  FRIENDSHIP 

"  In  spite  of  all  that  has  been  written,  friendship  remains  a 
mystery.    It  is  a  real  need,  and  rarely  supplied." 

PROFESSOR  ELMSLIE 
"  Different  to  the  Rest." 

WHAT  was  said  of  Henri  Perreyve  is  eminently 
true  of  Elmslie  :  he  was  gifted  for  friendship 
and  for  persuasion.  There  was  about  him  the  in- 
definable charm  of  an  atmosphere  at  once  stimulating, 
elevating,  and  composing.  He  had  an  inexplicable 
personal  attraction  that  drew  to  it  whatever  loving- 
kindness  there  might  be  in  the  air. 

In  that  delicate  and  watchful  consideration  for 
others  which  has  been  called  the  most  endearing  of 
human  characteristics,  he  could  hardly  be  surpassed. 
He  concerned  himself  with  the  whole  life  of  his 
friends,  and  especially  with  their  trials  and  perplexities. 
Dr.  Elmslie  was  indeed  one  of  the  very  few  men  to 
whom  one  might  go  in  an  emergency,  sure  of  a  welcome 
more  kindly  perhaps  if  possible  than  would  have  been 
accorded  in  prosperity.  His  whole  energies  were 
solicitously  given  to  the  task  of  comforting.  If 
things  could  be  set  right  he  delighted  in  applying  his 
singular  nimbleness  of  mind  to  the  situation.  He 
was  adroit  in  action  and  almost  amusingly  fertile  in 

ii 


iz  INFLUENCES 

schemes  and  suggestions.  He  had  a  profound  and 
compassionate  sense  of  the  frailty  of  men,  their  sore 
struggles  and  thick  temptations ;  he  thought  the 
Christian  Church  sadly  remiss  in  allowing  so  many 
lives  to  be  ruined  by  one  great  fault. 

Latterly  he  could  hardly  listen  without  impatience 
to  gloomy  forecasts  of  the  future.  He  believed  that 
all  was  right  with  the  world,  that  Christ  was  busy 
saving  it,  and  would  see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul. 
Men  prone  to  darker  thoughts  loved  him  very  much 
for  that. 

We  may  apply  to  Dr.  Elmslie  words  used,  I  think, 
about  an  American  writer :  his  charm  was  of  the 
kind  that  we  fail  to  reduce  to  its  grounds.  It  was 
like  that  of  the  sweetness  of  a  piece  of  music  or  the 
softness  of  fine  September  weather. 


PRINCIPAL  MARCUS   DODS 

Faithful  and  True. 

HE  was  the  best  friend  and  the  most  Christlike 
man  I  have  ever  known. 

There  was  a  generous  incredulity  at  his  heart. 
He  was  slow  to  wrath,  and  especially  very  slow  to 
believe  anything  against  those  whom  he  cared  for. 
He  was  not  only  willing,  but  even  anxious  to  hear  the 
other  side  in  every  controversy,  even  when  his  own 
mind  had  been  resolutely  made  up.  "  Wait  till  you 
are  seventy,"  he  would  say  with  that  unforgettable 
smile. 


GIFTED  FOR  FRIENDSHIP        13 

I  have  no  hope  of  making  up  his  loss  or  of  finding 
such  another  friend  again.  But  when  we  see  not 
our  tokens,  and  when  the  voices  that  helped  and 
cheered  fall  silent  one  by  one,  we  think  of  what  has 
been  and  of  what  yet  may  be. 


THE  BIBLE 

There  is  peace  in  it,  the  deepest  peace  ;  but  struggle  the  most 
terrible  struggle,  has  gone  before.  There  are  flowers  in  it  blooming 
quietly  and  sweetly,  but  on  the  edge  of  the  burnt-out  crater. 

The  Picture  of  the  Stainless. 

HOW  were  these  elements  put  together  ?  Who 
breathed  into  the  whole  the  breath  of  life  so 
that  it  became  a  living  creature,  as  Luther  says,  with 
eyes  and  hands  and  feet  ?  Take  the  problem  of  the 
Gospels.  One  may  say  lazily  that  it  is  an  insoluble 
problem,  and  one  may  say  it  wisely.  In  any  case, 
how  was  it  that  these  writers  succeeded  in  drawing 
the  picture  of  the  Stainless  ?  How  was  it  that  the 
stream  was  never  allowed  to  become  turbid  at  any 
moment  ?  One  act,  one  word,  one  attitude,  might 
have  been  condemned  by  all  generations  of  the  faithful. 
How  were  they  kept  from  misunderstandings,  these 
men  who  were  always  misunderstanding,  when  the 
story  came  to  be  written  ? 

The  Precious  Possession. 

A  DEEP  and  thorough  familiarity  with  the  text 
of  the  English  Bible  is  a  rare  and  precious 
attainment.     To  have  one  copy  in  large  type  in  which 
you  mark  passages  and  make  annotations  for  a  lifetime, 


THE  BIBLE  15 

which  you  peruse  and  reperuse  by  day  and  by  night, 
is  an  enriching  thing. 

The  Constant  Petition. 

TT7"E  return  over  the  years  to  the  time  when 
Robertson  Smith  taught  Hebrew  to  his  little 
class  of  students  in  Aberdeen.  The  voice  that  never 
faltered  in  any  other  form  of  utterance,  sometimes 
faltered  in  prayer.  But  one  petition  was  never  left 
out  of  the  supplication.  It  was  this  :  "  May  we  be 
mighty  in  the  Scriptures." 

To  be  mighty  in  the  Scriptures  is  to  know  the 
spirit  as  well  as  the  letter,  to  comprehend  and  to  walk 
by  the  Scriptures  behind  the  Scriptures. 

The  Fires  of  the  Great  Sun. 

'  I  VHE  fires  of  the  great  Sun  are  not  dying.     They 
are  lighting  up  the  regions  that  are  still  under 
the  shadows  of  night  and  death,  and  the  Bible  will 
shine  on  as  the  world's  one  book. 

The  Present  Succour  of  Christ. 

f  I  VHOSE  who  believe  in  the  present  succour  of 
-••        Christ  find  many  things  in  the  Bible  and  the 
world  grow  plain  and  easy. 

A  Warning. 

\  N  the  morning  I  can  brace  myself  to  most  things — 
-*•  can  and  do  even  read  commentaries  on  the  Bible 
— books  which  often  show  the  human  intellect  at  its 
very  lowest. 


16  INFLUENCES 

"  Bright  and  Sun-beshone" 

*  I  VHERE  is  nothing  more  fascinating  in  modern 
-*•  religious  writing  than  its  note  of  melancholy. 
Who  among  us  has  not  owned  the  spell  ?  The  books 
that  we  take  continually  from  the  shelf  and  ponder, 
over  and  over,  are  the  books  that  strike  this  note.  To 
read  and  think  of  the  dusky  strand  of  death  interwoven 
in  all  love,  seems  to  bring  us  to  the  heart  of  Christ 
by  a  nearer  way  than  any  other.  Think  of  the  part 
which  Death  plays  in  all  the  nobler  literature  of  the 
world  !  And  assuredly  the  moment  of  calamity  is 
the  half-light  in  which  much  becomes  visible  that  is 
veiled  by  the  full  glare  of  prosperity.  Yet  we  may 
doubt  very  much,  and  we  doubt  increasingly,  whether 
this  is  perfectly  Christian.  There  is  no  melancholy, 
as  moderns  understand  the  word,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  is  "  bright,  and  sun-beshone."  It  passes 
through  earthquake  and  through  heartquake  with  a 
firm  tread. 


The  Christ  of  the  Gospels. 

'  I  VHE  trouble  is  that  many  will  not  look  straight 
•*•  at  Jesus  Christ.  They  turn  their  heads  away. 
Stopford  Brooke  very  rightly  points  out  that  Burns, 
like  so  many  other  literary  men,  deliberately  refused 
to  look  face  to  face  at  the  Son  of  God.  The  active 
scepticism  of  our  day  has  largely  gone  with  a  profound 
ignorance  of  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ. 
We  have  been  told  that  a  company  of  working  men, 


THE  BIBLE  17 

aliens  from  the  Church,  and  in  the  majority  of  cases 
from  faith,  broke  out  into  rapturous  cheers  after 
hearing  a  vivid  presentation  of  the  Christ  Who  wrought 
out  in  human  life  the  creed  of  creeds.  What  is  needed 
is  that  we  should  find  out,  for  ourselves,  in  patient 
study,  the  Christ  of  the  Gospels,  not  the  Christ  of  the 
Institutes,  or  of  the  Christ  of  the  Imitation,  or  of  the 
Christ  of  modern  biographies.  It  should  be  under- 
stood that  the  utmost  wealth  of  rhetoric  employed 
even  by  believers  to  describe  Christ  serves  only  but 
to  blanch  the  glowing  colour  of  the  original  story. 


The  Trustful  View. 

*  I  VHE  Christian  people  of  this  country  ought  to 
-*-  be  told  far  more  clearly  than  they  have  been 
told  by  many  of  their  accepted  guides  who  know  the 
truth,  that  many  of  the  results  of  criticism  have  been 
established  beyond  controversy,  that  serious  opposition 
on  the  part  of  scholars  has  practically  quite  ceased, 
and  that  for  good  or  for  evil  the  situation  has  to  be 
faced  frankly.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  true  that 
criticism  is  establishing  more  and  more  clearly  the 
existence  of  a  higher  element  than  the  merely  natural 
in  the  Old  Testament  history.  With  patience,  with 
faith,  with  wisdom,  we  may  well  hope  to  see,  and 
at  no  distant  day,  the  authority  of  the  Bible  more 
commanding  than  it  has  ever  been.  The  humblest 
believer  will  find  that  much  has  been  given,  and  that 
nothing  has  been  taken  away,  that  all  the  old  uses 
are  still  possible,  and  that  the  old  faith  is  more  than 
I — 2 


1 8  INFLUENCES 

ever  possible — the  faith  of  "  an  old  woman  who  sits 
reading  her  Bible,  deeply  trustful  because  of  the  world 


Rest  and  Comfort. 

TIME,  in  the  poet's  words,  brings  roses,  and  the 
loveliest  of  them  all  is  the  white  rose  of  death. 
But  our  true,  abiding  rest,  our  unfailing  comfort,  is 
to  be  found  in  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Open  them,  and, 
if  we  will,  we  may  escape  from  the  currents  and 
waves  of  the  atmosphere  around  us,  and  be  plunged 
in  the  profoundest  sense  of  the  presence  of  God. 

The  Immortal  Audience. 

IT  must  be  said,  with  all  respect,  that  the  practice 
of  the  higher  criticism  induces  men  to  lay  an 
impossible  stress  on  expressions  which  are  not  really 
misunderstood  by  ordinary  people.  Can  we  not  say 
that  the  night  is  coming,  and  say  it  with  full  hearts, 
and  yet  be  very  sure  of  the  dawn  ?  Immortality 
cannot  be  secondary  and  inferential  now.  It  is 
primary,  for  Christ  means  immortality.  His  in- 
carnation meant  immortality.  His  every  word  meant 
immortality,  for  what  sentence  in  all  His  teaching  is 
intelligible  if  there  is  not  behind  it  the  assumption 
that  He  was  speaking  to  immortal  beings  ?  His 
dying  meant  immortality,  for  He  did  not  die  for 
creatures  that  were  in  a  little  to  be  mere  handfuls 
of  dust. 


THE   BIBLE  19 

Read  it  Again. 

IT  is  almost  an  insult  to  question  whether  your 
friend  has  read  the  Bible,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
how  very  few  people  read  the  Bible  through  !  There 
is  a  way  of  reading  it  chapter  by  chapter,  but  the 
Bible  does  not  yield  its  secrets  to  any  perfunctory 
method. 

I  believe  in  a  new  fresh  reading  of  the  Bible  without 
note  or  comment,  page  by  page,  till  the  last  prayer  in 
the  sacred  record  is  sighed  out,  and  the  end  comes. 

In  the  Pages  of  the  Gospel. 

WE  find  Christ  directly  in  the  pages  of  the 
Gospel,  as  the  Church  will  find  Him  to  the 
end  of  time,  for  the  Church  receives  the  things  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  while  outsiders  count  them  foolishness. 
To  deny  this  is  to  call  the  long  story  of  God's  grace  a 
dream,  and  to  contest  the  incontestable  sign. 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS 

"  If  I  have  read  attentively  the  Confessions  of  St.  Augustine, 
I  may  find  myself,  after  ten  years,  unable  to  quote  a  single  sen- 
tence, and  yet  I  may  be  the  better  and  the  wiser  for  my  pains." 

Special  Treasures. 

RACE    Abounding "    is,   without   doubt,   the 
most   exquisite   specimen   of  English   prose 
style  that  exists. 

St.  Teresa. 

/  I  VHERE  are  few  finer  letters  in  existence  than 
-••        those  of  St.  Teresa  to  the  leading  ecclesiastics 
of  her  time. 

Dr.  Parker's  Sermons. 

*  I  VHE   true  miracle  of  inspiration   is  once   more 
•*•        illustrated  in  these  books.     They  will   live, 

because  they  are  filled  with  the  strong  wine  of  the 
Spirit. 

Perreyve. 

*  I  VHE  religious  biography  which  has  most  impressed 
-*•        me  is  Father  Gratry's  Life  of  Henri  Perreyve^ 

which  can  be  had  in  an  English  translation  for  half  a 
crown. 

20 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS         21 

Mr.  Foster — Mrs.  Gilbert. 

OF  special  Nonconformist  biographies  there  are 
two  which  should  be  in  every  library — The 
Life  of  John  Foster  and  The  Autobiography  of  Mrs. 
Gilbert^  edited  and  completed  by  her  son,  a  book  in 
which  the  sweetest  fragrance  of  Nonconformist  piety 
diffuses  itself. 

A  Trio. 

IN  three  little  books,  published  about  the  same  time 
and  under  the  same  influence,  there  is,  we  believe, 
more  genuine  Christian  passion  than  will  be  found 
in  equal  compass  through  the  whole  range  of  the 
Victorian  literature.  These  three  little  books  are 
Dora  GreenwelPs  The  Patience  of  Hope^  F.  W.  H. 
Myers'  St.  Paul,  and  Goldwin  Smith's  Does  the  Bible 
sanction  American  Slavery  ?  All  three  books  were 
written  under  the  inspiration  of  Josephine  Butler. 

Spirited. 

MATTHEW    BROWN'S    Life    in    a    Puritan 
Colony  we   never  weary  of  reading.       It  is 
full  of  salt,  which  will  not  lose  its  savour. 

Fine  Religious  Poetry. 

MISS  GUINEY  has  written  the  best  religious 
poetry  that  has  appeared  since  Miss  Rossetti 
died. 


22  INFLUENCES 

A  Book  to  be  Written. 

THE  venerable  J.  E.  Cabot,  author  of  the  admir- 
able biography  of  Emerson,  once  told  me  that 
nothing  worthy  of  the  subject  had  been  written  on 
the  New  England  transcendentalism  and  other  phases 
of  thought. 

Fast  if  Necessary. 

I  SHOULD  say  that  all  the  books  a  country  minister 
really  needs  may  be  had  for  £40  or  £50.     They 
need  not  and  should  not  be  bought  all  at  once,  and 
for  the  sake  of  them   it  will    often  be  worth  while 
to  forgo  a  meal. 

On  Liking  Browning. 

OF  English  poets,  Browning  is  pre-eminently  the 
Nonconformist   preacher's    poet,    but    if  you 
have  almost  to  burst  blood-vessels  trying  to  admire 
him,  leave  him  alone. 

Anglican  Biographies. 

TN  most  Anglican  biographies  you  can  say  of  the 
-*•  hero  first,  that  he  was  a  gentleman  ;  next  that 
he  desired  the  office  of  a  Bishop. 

The  Novels  of  the  Time. 

PERHAPS  the  majority  of  recent  novels  have  been 
•••  written  by  people  who  more  or  less  rebelled 
against  the  Christian  law.  We  cannot  call  to  mind 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS         23 

a  single  instance  in  which  these  writers  tell  us  that 
happiness  was  the  result. 


A  Word  to  Preachers. 

OF  Scott,  ministers  should  have  at  least  Old  Mor- 
tality and  The  Heart  of  Midlothian  ;  of  George 
Eliot,  Scenes  of  Clerical  Life,  especially  Janet's  Re- 
pentance and  Silas  Marner  ;  of  Thackeray,  Vanity 
Fair  and  The  Newcomes  ;  of  Dickens,  any  belonging 
to  the  earlier  period,  and  of  the  later  period  Great 
Expectations  ;  of  Charlotte  Bronte,  Shirley  ;  of 
Mark  Rutherford,  The  Deliverance.  Mrs.  Gaskell 
is  a  writer  eminently  suitable  to  religious  readers  for 
her  high  feeling  and  her  pure  and  exquisite  style. 
Of  Lord  Lytton,  The  Caxtons  and  The  Last  Days  of 
Pompeii  should  be  read  ;  and  of  George  Macdonald, 
as  much  as  the  preacher  is  willing  to  receive. 


A  Book  for  the  Discouraged. 

IN  this  book  The  Early  Letters  of  Marcus 
which  has  been  most  carefully  and  skilfully 
edited  by  his  son,  we  have  a  revelation.  Not,  let  me 
hasten  to  say,  a  revelation  of  weakness.  Very  far 
from  that.  But  we  have  the  disclosure  of  a  mind 
far  more  sensitive  than  one  imagined  it  to  be,  con- 
fronting a  succession  of  mortifications  and  disappoint- 
ments which,  surely,  never  came  before  or  since  to  a 
man  so  gifted.  It  is  thus  pre-eminently  a  book  for 
the  discouraged.  This  means  that  it  is  a  book  for  a 


24  INFLUENCES 

very  large  public.  For  most  people  one  finds,  when 
one  gets  near  to  them,  are  discouraged,  and  often  very 
deeply  discouraged.  It  is  a  book  especially  for 
discouraged  ministers — for  those  who  have  no  popular 
recognition,  for  those  who  are  often  tempted  to  think 
that  they  have  wandered  from  the  path  assigned  to 
them,  and  are  trying  to  fulfil  duties  for  which  they 
were  never  meant. 


^  Fervour,  and  Flight. 

T^OR  anything  great  in  life  or  literature  there  is 
-*•  needed  some  hope,  some  fervour,  some  power 
of  flight.  The  admitted  dearth  of  notable  books  at 
present  is  due  to  the  cynicism  which  at  regular  periods 
infects  the  British  literary  mind,  and  is  now  almost 
universal.  How  many  of  our  ablest  pens  are  given 
up  at  present  to  the  splenetic  service  of  small  sarcasm, 
to  heartless  pecking  at  great  ideas,  to  sneering  at  the 
march  of  progress  !  This  shrivelling  and  withering 
of  the  mind  comes  from  the  failure  of  belief  in  God. 
Without  that,  it  is  to  this  we  must  sink,  for  there  is 
nothing  to  serve  or  redeem  in  the  faith  that  sees  God 
everywhere  in  nature,  and  in  nature  only. 

The  Evangelicals. 

THERE  are  many  books  that  deal  with  the  early 
Evangelicals.     There   is,   notably,   the   Edin- 
burgh Review  article  on   "  The  Clapham  Sect,"  by 
Sir   James    Stephen.      There    is    an   excellent    little 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS         25 

volume  on  the  theme,  for  which  the  writer  took  pains 
to  read  all  the  volumes  of  the  Christian  Observer^ 
which  was  edited  by  Zachary  Macaulay,  and  in  which 
Lord  Macaulay  published  some  of  his  earliest  produc- 
tions. Above  all,  there  is  an  anonymous  book, 
Reminiscences  of  Thought  and  Feeling^  by  the  author  of 
Visiting  my  Relations^  which  was  published  by  Picker- 
ing in  1852.  It  is  a  strange  book,  but  graphic  and 
picturesque  in  many  passages,  and  devoting  much 
attention  to  the  Evangelical  leader  at  Cambridge, 
Charles  Simeon.  With  these  books  we  may  place 
Mr.  Russell's  Memoir  of  Lady  Victoria  Buxton. 


The  Life  of  Dr.  Pusey. 

DR.  LIDDON  regards  with  profound  disapproval 
Dr.  Pusey' s  early  flirtations  with  the  Germans, 
his  Byronism  and  sentimentalism.  But  when  Pusey 
passes  into  the  man  we  all  knew,  the  biographer  is  at 
home,  and  writes  with  all  his  characteristic  force.  The 
distinctive  value  of  this  book  is  that  it  helps  us,  as  no 
other,  to  understand  the  theological  value,  such  as  it 
was,  of  the  High  Church  movement.  Dr.  Liddon's 
fierce  lunges  at  his  opponents,  Arnold,  Whately,  and 
the  rest,  effectually  exorcise  the  demon  of  dulness. 

Findlay  on  Galatians. 

DR.  FINDLAY  was  not  a  mere  scholar,  but  had 
the  inestimable  gift  of  style.     Two  Wesleyans 
at  least  have  commanded  the  grand  style — the  style 


26  INFLUENCES 

of  Bunyan,  Dale,  and  Dean  Church.  I  mean  W.  B. 
Pope  and  G.  G.  Findlay.  It  was  a  positive  pleasure 
to  read  Dr.  Findlay,  for  the  sheer  beauty  and  dignity 
of  his  English.  He  wrote  no  book  which  was  not 
worthy  of  him,  but  to  my  mind  the  deepest,  the  most 
characteristic,  the  most  precious  of  his  commentaries 
is  that  on  Galatians,  which  he  contributed  to  the 
Expositor's  Bible.  I  have  thought  many  times  that  he 
found  himself  there,  as  nowhere  else,  and  this  was 
the  judgment  of  men  like  Dr.  Dale  and  Dr.  Marcus 
Dods.  To  study  Dr.  Findlay's  book  was  to  have  a 
new  window  opened  in  the  mind. 


George  Macdonald's  Novels. 

/"T-VHE  impression  these  books  made  on  many 
-*•  young  minds  could  never  be  exaggerated. 
How  wonderful  it  was  to  see  the  young  genius  come 
forth  to  the  fight  against  the  time-honoured  dogmas, 
with  his  dazzling  spear  of  youthful  scorn  and  beautiful 
indignation  !  The  diamond  point  of  his  virgin 
weapons,  the  figure  of  the  preacher,  all  glowing  and 
poetic  in  a  region  of  ultra  prose — these  were  enough 
to  fascinate  youth,  and  the  heart  was  cold  that  did  not 
fall  in  love  with  his  generous  and  tender  dreams.  I 
say  the  books  were  constructive.  They  were  alto- 
gether noble  in  their  tone  and  feeling.  No  one 
could  lay  them  down  without  thrilling  to  the  thought 
that  truth  and  goodness  and  God  are  alone  worth 
living  for.  Even  though  it  might  be  impossible  to 
accept  their  full  teaching,  they  throbbed  with  a  spiritual 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS         27 

life  which  could  not  but  communicate  itself.  They 
are  books  of  the  true  prophetic  quality,  and  ought  not 
to  be  forgotten. 

In  the  best  of  all  Macdonald's  books,  Robert  Fal- 
coner^ we  have  the  largest  autobiographical  element. 
That  fine  character,  Mrs.  Falconer,  in  whom  we  see 
the  grander  type  of  character  which  Calvinism  has 
produced  in  Scotland,  a  character  in  which  a  flame  of 
true  religion  burned  under  a  thick  and  hard  crust, 
was  his  own  grandmother,  upright,  just,  severe,  and 
yet  at  heart  loving,  with  nothing  mean  about  her. 
The  boy's  soul  and  hers  came  into  contact,  and  he  saw 
her  when  he  wrote  Robert  Falconer  in  the  tender 
light  of  holy  memories. 

As  for  Robertson,  he  scarcely  believed  in  the 
recognition  of  friends  in  eternity.  Macdonald,  on  the 
contrary,  was  vehemently  persuaded  of  the  sanctity 
and  permanence  of  love,  and  to  him  a  heaven  was  a 
home  heaven.  Only  those  who  have  read  his  books 
through  can  understand  the  strong  invigorating  note 
of  faith  which  runs  through  them.  And  all  of  them 
are  in  unison  with  the  first  chords  he  struck. 


Paton's  Story. 

T  T  7"E  cannot  imagine  the  time  when  believing  hearts 
will  not  glow  over  the  story  of  Paton's  work 
in  the  New  Hebrides.  The  book  has  signal  literary 
merit.  Dr.  John  Paton  was  one  of  the  very  few 
men  who  did  not  need  to  acquire  the  power  of  expres- 
sion by  toil  and  painstaking.  Whenever  he  set  his 


28  INFLUENCES 

pen  to  work  the  result  was  fresh,  spontaneous,  vivid, 
and  arresting.  The  emotion  that  pulses  through 
every  page,  the  noble  passion  for  Christ  and  the  souls 
for  whom  Christ  died,  set  the  heart  on  fire. 


Do  you  know  Mr.  Fearing  ? 

NEARLY  all  believe  that  they  have  read  The 
Pilgrim's  Progress.  They  know  something 
about  it,  for  they  have  read  about  the  fight  with 
Apollyon,  about  the  Slough  of  Despond  and  Vanity 
Fair,  and  they  think  they  have  done  enough.  But 
if  they  are  candid,  they  will  confess  on  reflection  that 
they  don't  know  Mr.  Fearing,  Bunyan's  favourite 
and  most  beautiful  character.  Missing  that,  they 
have  missed  a  great  deal.  They  go  back,  if  they  are 
wise. 


"  The  Scarlet  Letter." 

TF  there  is  any  reader  whom  these  words  have 
-*•  fired  with  any  ambition  to  know  the  best,  I 
advise  him  to  procure  straight  away  the  first  volume 
of  the  lovely  edition  of  Hawthorne,  just  published  by 
Messrs.  Service  and  Paton,  and  containing  The  Scarlet 
Letter.  Now  for  the  first  time  so  far  as  I  know  in 
England,  Hawthorne  is  presented  in  a  worthy  form, 
where  one  can  read  him  with  a  true  satisfaction.  The 
book  is  cheap,  the  story  is  enthralling,  the  style  shows 
such  mastery  of  the  English  language  as  is  possible 
only  to  a  very  few  in  any  century.  There  are  deep 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS         29 

lessons  of  life  in  the  book,  lessons  that  are  of  more 
value  than  many  sermons,  lessons  that,  even  to  unsuscep- 
tible readers,  give  a  permanent  bent  to  the  mind. 


"  Just  a  Young  Girl." 

THE  objection  is  that  Tennyson's  "  May  Queen  " 
was  silly.  She  had  but  a  few  simple  thoughts 
in  her  mind — Robin,  the  lover  ;  little  Effie,  the  sister  ; 
the  triumph  of  her  brief  queenhood,  the  flowers  and 
birds,  her  mother,  her  clergyman,  and,  at  last,  her 
Saviour.  She  was  not  a  Girton  girl.  She  could  not 
address  a  public  meeting.  I  daresay  she  took  her 
political  views  from  her  father.  She  was  not  a  great 
reader,  I  suppose  ;  she  had  no  literary  talent,  and 
could  never  have  written  a  popular  realistic  novel  or 
a  study  of  heredity.  She  lived  before  the  times  of 
evolution  and  the  higher  criticism,  and  I  fancy  she 
would  have  known  nothing  of  them,  even  if  she  were 
living  now.  She  was  just  a  young  girl  in  a  Lincoln- 
shire farmhouse,  and,  if  she  had  lived,  she  would  have 
married  a  young  farmer,  and  have  made  him  very 
happy.  Nothing  in  her  ?  Nothing — except  good- 
ness, innocence,  love,  and  faith.  Nothing  more  worth 
talking  about. 

A  Statesman's  Writings. 

]\/TR.  GLADSTONE'S  truly  detestable  style  seems 
WA  to  have  been  his  from  the  beginning,  and  he 
never  got  rid  of  it.  It  must  be  owned  also  that  the 


30  INFLUENCES 

value  of  his  theological  opinions  is  exceedingly  small. 
Mr.  Gladstone  pottered  at  theology  all  his  life,  and  a 
man  of  his  gifts  could  not  fail  sometimes  to  say  good 
things.  But  the  truth  is  that  he  rarely  understood 
the  nature  of  any  great  theological  question  he  ever 
handled. 

His  piece  on  "  Robert  Elsmere,"  along  with  his 
criticism  of  Macaulay,  may  be  described  as  the  best 
of  his  writings.  But  he  was  most  unhappy  when  he 
ventured  on  the  ground  of  the  critics. 

What  remains  to  us  is  the  memory  of  that  venerable 
head,  humbly  bowed  in  prayer,  of  the  grand  and 
constant  fidelity  to  duty,  of  that  marvellous  radiance 
of  faith  which  transfigured  and  ennobled  the  most 
potent  career  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Gethsemane  Books. 

/TAHERE  are  a  few  books  peculiarly  dear  to  the 
-••  heart  of  the  Church,  which  I  may  call  Geth- 
semane books.  The  chief  are  the  lives  of  Brainerd, 
Martyn,  and  McCheyne.  All  of  these  died  young, 
not  without  signs  of  the  Divine  blessing — but  pre- 
maturely— rich  and  fervid  natures  exhausted  and  burnt 
out.  I  do  not  overlook  physical  causes  and  reasons, 
but  in  each  case  there  was  a  Gethsemane.  Read 
the  memoir  of  Brainerd,  which  Wesley  published  in 
an  abridged  form.  It  was  written  by  Jonathan 
Edwards,  the  greatest  intellect  of  America.  Mark  its 
reserved  passion,  its  austere  tenderness.  Read  the 
story  of  young  Jerusha  Edwards,  who  followed  her 


ABOUT  CERTAIN  BOOKS         31 

betrothed  so  soon,  and  you  feel  that  you  have  done 
business  in  great  waters.  Read  Brainerd's  aspirations 
— "  Oh  !  that  I  might  be  a  flaming  fire  in  the  service 
of  my  God.  Here  I  am  ;  Lord,  send  me  ;  send  me 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  send  me  to  the  rough,  the 
savage  pagans  of  the  wilderness  !  " 

"  Rabbom"  by  Canon  Anthony  Deane. 

T  TIS  chapters  and  paragraphs  move  on  in  masterly 
-*•  •*•  sequence.  The  style  is  lucid,  forcible  and 
felicitous,  lit  up  with  brilliant  epigrams.  In  these 
days  of  hurried  and  slovenly  writing,  how  we  respect 
the  author  who  never  descends  into  a  sentence  which 
is  either  otiose  or  obscure  ! 

The  book  represents  clarified  and  condensed  think- 
ing of  no  common  order.  Even  though  you  may 
hesitate  to  adopt  all  its  positions,  you  are  constrained 
to  admire  the  sweet  and  reverent  spirit,  the  deep-hearted 
faith,  which  breathe  throughout  this  Study  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  Teacher. 


MY  PUBLISHER 

"  I  have  ever  had  experience  of  your  enterprise,  liberality,  and 
confidence." 

The  Friend  of  the  Distressed. 

"JV/TR.  HODDER  was  consulted  in  many  delicate 
**>*  and  anxious  affairs.  Parents  whose  children 
had  gone  wrong,  young  men  who  had  fallen,  religious 
workers  who  had  been  wrecked — all  came  to  him, 
and  all  received  the  best  help  he  could  give  them.  I 
think  he  rose  to  his  greatest  in  those  negotiations  where 
tact  and  fineness  of  feeling  are  supremely  necessary. 
No  word  of  the  many  secrets  disclosed  to  him  ever 
passed  his  lips.  He  was  a  man  absolutely  to  be  trusted, 
and  not  even  in  the  most  confidential  conversation 
did  he  ever  betray  a  trust  or  say  a  word  that  might 
lead  to  its  betrayal.  Once,  I  remember,  he  came  into 
my  room  and  threw  himself  listlessly  into  a  chair. 
This  was  so  different  from  his  ordinary  ways  that  I 
said,  "  What  is  the  matter  ?  "  He  answered,  "It  is 
impossible  to  get  another  chance  for  a  man  who  has 
broken  down."  Compassion  was,  I  think,  his  most 
distinctive  quality.  He  was  a  barometer,  not  at  all 
in  the  sense  that  he  flattered  and  fawned  upon  the 
successful,  but  in  the  sense  that  when  he  sought  you 
out,  you  might  know  that  he  believed  you  to  be  in 
need.  He  could  talk  about  the  evils  of  indiscriminate 

32 


MY  PUBLISHER  33 

charity,  but  if  ever  a  man  remembered  the  maxim  : 
"  Give  to  him  that  asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that 
would  borrow  of  thee  turn  thou  not  away,"  that  man 
was  Matthew  Hodder.  Latterly  he  never  went  out 
without  a  stock  of  half-crowns,  and  any  suppliant 
might  be  sure  of  half  a  crown  at  least,  no  matter  how 
often  he  had  been  found  out. 


WONDERFUL  MEN 


"  It  is  not  with  mere  misery  that  we  think  of  Dr.  Denney.  We 
are  happy  in  the  remembrance  of  a  man  in  whose  presence  we  felt 
that  God  and  goodness  could  not  be  doubted.  But  the  news  of 
his  death  was  a  blow  on  the  heart.  Alas,  my  brother,  very  pleasant 
wast  thou  to  me." 


DR.   ALEXANDER  WHYTE 
The  Devout. 

ON  thinking  over  our  long  association,  it  becomes 
clear  to  me  that  his  main  characteristic  was  his 
intense  humility. 

Evangelical  humility  is  the  note  of  all  he  preached 
and  wrote.  This  was  never  a  base  humility.  It 
never  passed  into  a  painful  and  haunting  sense  of 
inferiority.  That  feeling  is  the  ruin  of  true  humility, 
and  Whyte,  who  was  in  all  ways  a  just  and  faithful 
knight  of  God,  had  none  of  it.  One  thing  for  which 
he  ardently  prayed  has  been  denied  him.  He  longed 
with  the  whole  passion  of  his  powerful  nature  for  a 
reunited  Scottish  Church.  His  death  should  lead  to 
a  greater  visible  earnestness  in  this  vital  matter.  "  The 
King's  business  requireth  haste."  What  a  gift  he  was 
to  his  Church,  to  his  nation  !  How  wide  were  the 
irradiations  of  faith  and  love  and  hope  and  repentance 
that  came  from  his  intense  and  prayerful  life  !  And 

34 


WONDERFUL  MEN  35 

he  died  as  we  should  have  wished  him  to  die.     Liter- 
ally, he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

BISHOP  WALSHAM   HOW 


His  Contentment. 

1T\R.  HOW  from  the  beginning  of  his  labour  was 
**J  a  signal  example  of  diligence  and  content.  He 
was  for  nearly  thirty  of  his  best  years  rector  of  a 
comparatively  small  country  parish.  Yet  from 
morning  service  at  eight  o'clock,  till  he  laid  down  his 
pen  about  midnight,  every  day  was  fully  occupied, 
and  when  he  took  up  larger  responsibilities  he  could 
say  that  no  man  can  do  more  than  work  his  whole 
time.  It  was  said  of  him  by  a  friend,  and  everything 
bears  it  out,  that  he  was  perfectly  and  absolutely 
content  to  live  and  die  in  his  little  parish.  This  is 
monitory  and  suggestive.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
Christians  have  taken  fully  to  heart  the  parable  of 
the  talents,  whether  they  clearly  realise  that  our 
talents  may  be  and  must  be  doubled  wherever  we  are 
placed,  and  that  in  every  sphere,  no  matter  how 
humble,  there  is  always  the  opportunity  and  the  call 
for  unrelaxed  diligence.  There  are  Christians  who 
are  amiable  and  slothful,  of  whom  their  friends  say 
that  they  have  great  talents,  which  have  never  yet 
found  full  development ;  Christians  who  salve  their 
consciences  by  always  talking  about  some  great  work 
they  mean  to  do  before  they  die.  So  far  as  we  have 
noticed  these  people  are  looked  upon  affectionately, 


36  INFLUENCES 

without  any  passion  of  moral  reprobation.  Yet  surely 
there  can  be  no  sin  greater  than  this,  no  guilt  heavier 
or  more  damning  than  that  of  the  unlit  lamp  and  the 
ungirt  loin. 


His  Industry. 

OUIET  spheres  seem  to  give  excuse  for  large 
intervals  of  leisure,  but  the  Christian  has  no 
right  to  any  leisure,  beyond  the  necessary  rest.  How 
found  that  he  had  more  than  enough  to  do.  He 
would  not  even  waste  a  few  odd  minutes.  He  would 
go  to  his  writing-table  and  add  a  few  lines  to  the  book 
he  was  engaged  upon.  He  ruled  his  life,  as  life  can 
only  be  ruled,  by  being  most  absolute  and  rigid  in 
method.  When  he  knew  that  a  letter  had  to  be 
written,  he  would  go  and  address  the  envelope  so  that 
it  might  serve  as  a  reminder.  And  all  this  work  was 
done  with  the  most  unbroken  and  steady  content. 
In  one  Church  ministers  are  asked  at  their  ordina- 
tion whether  they  will  "  faithfully,  diligently,  and 
cheerfully  "  do  their  work.  It  is  in  the  cheerfulness 
that  most  of  them  fail. 


His  Modesty. 

HOW  had  his  trials,  like  every  man.     He  says 
that  the  only  people  with  whom  he  was  very 
successful  were  old  women,  but  he  was  patient  with 
the  strange  vacillations  of  morning  and  night  that 
come  to  every  Christian  toiler.     However  narrow  any 


WONDERFUL  MEN  37 

man's  allotted  space  of  dominion  may  be,  it  is  enough 
— enough  for  all  his  time  and  for  all  his  energy. 


ii 

Facing  Death. 

'TpHERE  is  something  very  admonishing  in  the 
manner  in  which  the  old  man  faced  death. 
He  saw  it  coming  long  before,  but  said  little.  He 
made  all  the  preparations  he  could,  wrote  the  fullest 
and  clearest  directions  to  his  children  on  every  matter, 
and  even  such  small  things  as  instructions  to  his 
successor  with  respect  to  ventilators  and  other  details. 
He  continued  in  excellent  spirits,  enjoying  everything, 
and  went  on  preaching.  He  arranged  a  fishing  holiday 
in  Ireland,  and  had  some  good  sport.  He  was  glad 
in  the  scenes  of  the  beautiful  world  he  was  soon  to 
leave.  He  had  none  of  the  morbid  feeling  that  these 
things  were  shadows  soon  to  pass. 
There  was  nothing  of  the  craving  : 

11  O  Paradise  !   O  Paradise  !   who  would  not  long  for  rest  ?  " 

He  was  in  the  strait,  no  doubt,  which  St.  Paul  of 
old  was  in.  He  was  willing  to  depart  and  be  with 
Christ,  which  is  very  far  better,  and  yet  willing  to 
remain  in  the  flesh  as  long  as  that  was  expedient  for 
any.  Again,  we  ask,  is  not  this  in  the  full  sense 
Christian,  the  thankful  acceptance  of  all  the  blessings 
of  earth  ?  All  of  them  were  lightly  held,  and  though 
he  said  little,  there  lay,  no  doubt,  on  all  that  last  year 
of  waiting,  the  foreglow  of  the  coming  Angel. 


38  INFLUENCES 

JAMES  MARTINEAU 
A  Noble  Obscurity. 

\T7HAT  is  most  admirable  in  Martineau's  life  is 
its  lofty  and  serene  dignity.  "  A  great  soul 
in  a  small  house  "  was  the  spectacle  that  fixed  Lacor- 
daire's  admiration.  If  the  great  soul  dwells  contentedly, 
nobly,  in  the  narrow  surroundings,  then  he  deserves 
reverence.  As  Hutton  said,  Martineau  would  have 
drawn  thinkers  from  all  parts  of  the  world  if  he  had 
lectured  in  any  great  university,  but,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  he  was  engaged  in  discoursing  to  "  two  or  three 
boys  in  a  corner."  What  he  did  for  these  "  boys  " 
is  shown  in  the  fact  that  the  great  books  of  his  last 
years  were  mainly  recasts  and  digests  of  the  lectures 
he  prepared  for  them.  There  is  something  very 
noble  also  in  the  patience  with  which  Martineau 
worked  without  recognition.  Up  to  his  sixty- fifth 
year  he  attracted  very  little  attention. 

PROFESSOR  HENRY   DRUMMOND 

i 
Naturally  Virtuous. 

ID  ORN  in  a  Christian  home,  ever  under  the  influ- 
-*~*  ence  of  the  most  earnest  and  loving  Christianity, 
he  was  himself  not  only  naturally  good,  but  naturally 
virtuous,  to  use  the  subtle  French  distinction.  His 
tall,  athletic  form,  his  beautiful  face,  his  rare  union 
of  strength  and  gentleness,  of  courage  and  tenderness, 
of  boldness  and  sanity,  gave  him  a  charm  which  can 


WONDERFUL  MEN  39 

be  partly  accounted  for,  but  which  in  the  end  of  the 
day  we  must  call  magnetic,  for  it  could  never  be 
completely  reduced  to  its  grounds.  He  never  showed 
that  he  had  himself  experienced  the  agonies  and  travails 
of  religious  conflict.  But  no  man  was  more  familiar 
with  the  battles  and  the  defeats  of  his  fellows.  Humble 
and  simple,  always  at  the  furthest  remove  from  self- 
sufficiency,  he  was  yet  self-sufficing.  The  incalculable 
work  he  did  as  a  father  confessor  of  multitudes  was 
apparently  accomplished  with  triumphant  ease.  He 
was  always  willing  to  hear,  to  help,  and  to  give,  but 
he  himself  never  asked  anything,  never  seemed  to  need 
anything,  and  so  far  as  one  could  see,  had  nothing  to 
grieve  over  in  the  past,  nothing  to  fear  in  the  future, 
nothing  to  turn  for  to  any  friend  save  to  his  Saviour 
Christ.  Though  he  well  knew  the  sorrowful  side  of 
life,  he  himself  never  seemed  till  the  last  to  be  entangled 
in  the  coils  of  pain.  His  temperament  was  joyous, 
and  he  lived  life  with  unfailing  zest  from  sunrise  to 
sunset.  Such  natures  are  so  rare  and  separate  that 
they  cannot  fail  to  be  influential. 

ii 

The  Student's  Guide. 

TT  71TH  the  largest  breath  of  sympathy,  he  yet 
held  a  faith  which  never  seemed  to  be  shaken 
or  even  clouded.  In  addition,  he  had  very  unusual 
endowments  as  an  orator  and  as  a  writer.  No  one 
we  have  ever  listened  to  impressed  us  quite  in  the  same 
way.  His  words  were  the  effortless  utterance  of  a 
man  with  a  message,  a  man  who  could  clothe  his 


40  INFLUENCES 

thoughts  in  the  simplest  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
shining  vesture. 

Without  a  very  strictly  defined  theology,  he  preached 
Christ  as  a  potent  influence  whereby  we  can  become 
what  we  are  not,  through  intimate  communion  with 
perfect  love  and  perfect  holiness.  Thus  he  won  his 
immense  success  with  the  most  difficult  classes — especi- 
ally with  students.  They  saw  in  him  the  likeness  of 
Christ,  and  they  gave  him  earnest  heed. 

DR.  JOHN  CAIRNS 
A  Generous  Nature. 

DR.  CAIRNS  was  enthusiastically  human,  full  of 
the  sympathies  which  are  at  the  basis  of  human 
character.  He  was  naturally  drawn  to  men  and 
women,  aware  of  the  richness  of  the  common  vital 
stock,  sure  about  any  stranger  that  if  he  knew  him 
he  would  find  much  to  love.  If  there  is  any  natural 
gift  that  Christ  takes  under  His  protection,  it  is  this. 

DR.   R.  W.   DALE 

Living  Christianity. 

*  I  ^O  Dr.  Dale  came,  later  than  to  most  of  us,  the 
-*-  experiences  of  bereavement,  sickness,  and 
weariness,  which  test  the  reality  of  faith  and  the  power 
of  endurance.  He  encountered  them  bravely  and 
tenderly.  He  was  refined,  ennobled,  and  taught  by 
pain.  It  opened  up  to  him  such  new  reaches  and 
depths  of  experience  that  he  wittingly  turned  aside 


WONDERFUL  MEN  41 

from  many  things  that  had  claimed  his  care  in  order 
to  develop  the  positive  argument  for  Christianity,  on 
which  he  had  all  his  life  relied.  And  so  in  him  was 
fulfilled  the  great  word  that  the  men  of  sorrows  are 
the  men  of  influence  in  every  walk  of  life.  Not 
without  tears  was  the  New  Testament  written,  not 
without  tears  can  it  be  understood.  In  his  earlier 
works  Dr.  Dale  had  consistently  made  his  ultimate 
appeal  to  the  experiences  of  penitents  and  saints.  He 
came  to  see  in  his  last  years  that  he  had  been  wiser 
than  he  knew.  He  came  to  see,  and  he  was  able  to 
show,  that  the  true  verifying  of  Scripture  lies  in  its 
application  from  point  to  point  in  life.  This  is  the 
highest  criticism,  and  it  is  a  criticism  which  is  inde- 
pendent of  every  other. 

DR.   ROBERTSON  SMITH 
A  Great  and  Simple  Scholar. 

IT  was  to  the  Church  and  to  Scotland  that  he 
belonged — so  we  shall  always  think.  Whatever 
he  accomplished  as  investigator,  or  teacher  in  other 
fields,  it  was  not  by  his  own  choice.  He  would  fain 
have  been  in  the  Church — sharing  its  work  of  lifting 
the  world  to  higher  levels  than  those  of  time  and 
nature.  Like  the  Scottish  metaphysician,  Dr.  Thomas 
Brown,  in  the  words  so  beautifully  commented  on 
by  Mackintosh,  he  chose  to  be  buried  with  his  kindred. 
The  mind  that  soared  and  roamed  over  every  region 
of  knowledge,  that  measured  itself  unvanquished  with 
the  strongest  of  its  time,  turned  back  to  the  scenes 


42  INFLUENCES 

and  the  friends  of  youth.  He  has  been  laid  to  rest 
in  the  Keig  churchyard  by  the  graves  of  his  father, 
his  brother,  and  his  brilliant  and  beautiful  sister. 

DR.   GEORGE  MATHESON 

i 
The  Blind  Preacher. 

TT  was  a  Pauline  life,  as  Dr.  Macmillan  with  real 
-*•  insight  points  out.  Matheson,  like  St.  Paul, 
had  his  thorn  in  the  flesh,  but  like  St.  Paul  he  allowed 
nothing  to  foil  the  energy  of  his  spirit.  He  believed, 
like  St.  Paul,  that  in  each  condition  there  is  a  divine 
spring  of  help,  and  that,  however  calamitous  one's 
circumstances  may  be,  it  is  possible  so  to  alter  oneself 
as  to  make  them  an  aid  and  not  a  hindrance  in  the 
progress  of  the  spirit.  His  content  was  not  a  poor 
passive  acquiescence.  Matheson  found  a  clear  call 
to  exertion,  and  the  call  was  obeyed.  He  was  called 
to  patience  and  fortitude  ;  none  was  more  patient 
and  more  brave.  He  was  called  to  joy,  and  his  heart 
flowed  out  in  gratitude  and  praise.  So  he  grandly 
transformed  what  seemed  to  others  mere  wounds  and 
pangs  and  fetters  into  strength  and  gladness  and 
freedom.  This  was  the  glory  of  George  Matheson. 

ii 

The  Kindly  Light. 

T  TE  proved,  and  proved  again,  the  reality  of  the 
-••  *•  spiritual  light.  To  him  the  East  was  not 
silent  and  relentless.  The  Dayspring  from  on  high 


WONDERFUL  MEN  43 

visited  him  more  and  more  gloriously,  and  the  finest 
book  he  ever  wrote  is  his  Studies  of  the  Portrait  of 
Christ.  Even  in  the  darkness  of  this  world  the  kindly 
light  was  about  his  feet  and  on  his  face.  He  was 
strengthened  to  the  end,  and  strengthened  many  by 
the  ancient  succours  of  the  soul. 

He  was  indeed  one  of  the  most  brotherly  and 
generous  of  men.  "  Might  we  meet  when  twilight 
has  become  day  !  " 


DR.   BARNARDO 

The  Lover  of  Children. 

ATTERLY  he  became  somewhat  deaf,  and  was 
•*— '  wont  to  carry  a  fearful  and  wonderful  instrument 
which  he  described  as  an  ear-trumpet.  I  never  saw 
him  use  it  for  the  purpose  of  hearing,  but  he  employed 
it  freely  in  thumping  the  back  of  his  companion, 
whether  to  enforce  the  point  of  a  joke  or  of  an  argu- 
ment. He  would  run  round  the  table  pouring 
himself  out,  and  then  as  his  climax  approached,  he 
seized  his  ear-trumpet  firmly.  But  one  soon  noticed 
that  this  great  effervescence  was  not  first  or  last 
among  his  qualities.  He  had  that  strange  tenacity 
possessed  by  a  few,  to  which  it  seems  as  if  almost 
everything  yields  at  last.  Dr.  Barnardo  had  taken 
up  his  work  in  life  and  he  clung  to  it  all  the  time. 

The  children  from  whom  others  would  turn  away 
went  straight  into  his  heart  as  through  an  open  door. 
He  seemed  to  know  every  child  of  his  multitude,  or 


44  INFLUENCES 

at  least  to  know  something  of  every  one.  He  loved 
them  and  yearned  over  them  as  if  they  had  been  his 
own  dear  children.  For  nearly  all  his  time  I  imagine 
that  his  working  day  was  sixteen  hours,  and  he  seemed 
to  hate  the  thought  of  a  complete  holiday. 

If  the  mystical  saying  is  true,  that  all  love  is  returned, 
he  must  have  had  much  of  that.  Anyhow,  he  never 
complained  and  he  never  boasted.  He  belonged  to 
the  small  transfigured  band  whose  reward  is  with  them 
and  their  work  before  them. 


COUNTRY  MINISTERS 

"  These  are  men  to  whom  Scotland  owes  an  incalculable  debt — 
men  who  take  the  highest  place  at  college,  and  thereafter  con- 
tentedly settle  in  remote  parishes,  where  they  live,  labour,  and, 
for  the  most  part,  die.  I  bless  God  I  have  known  such." 

Bell  of  Midmar. 

WE  remember  vividly  John  Peden  Bell  of  Midmar, 
a  man  venerated  over  the  whole  countryside 
as  a  saint  and  a  thinker.  When  he  came  to  preach 
for  his  brethren  the  hearer  felt  himself  honoured, 
and  did  his  best  to  understand  the  profound  arguments 
by  which  the  preacher  tried  to  vindicate  the  greater 
doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith.  It  was  enough  to 
see  the  true  kingly  character  of  the  Christian  in 
Mr.  Bell's  face.  Many  country  ministers  have  been 
Moderators  of  the  Synod,  and  others  have  taken  a 
leading  part  in  its  guidance.  Alexander  Young  of 
Logiealmond,  at  an  incredible  age,  preached  to  the 
Synod  with  amazing  energy  from  a  text  which  might 
almost  be  called  a  United  Presbyterian  text  :  "  I 
will  make  Him  my  Firstborn,  higher  than  the  kings 
of  the  earth."  Who  that  ever  read  it  can  forget 
George  Gilfillan's  beautiful  paper  on  Jamieson  of 
Methven,  the  poet  preacher  ?  Gilfillan  heard  him 
as  a  boy,  when  he  took  for  his  text  the  words  in  Micah, 
"  Feed  thy  people  with  thy  rod,  the  flock  of  thine 

45 


46  INFLUENCES 

heritage,  which  dwell  solitarily  in  the  wood,  in  the 
midst  of  Carmel  ;  let  them  feed  in  Bashan  and 
Gilead  as  in  the  days  of  old,"  and  never  forgot  the 
lingering  emphasis  with  which  he  repeated  the  words 
"  solitarily  in  the  wood,"  words  which  seemed  to  him 
unspeakably  dear  and  suggestive.  Jamieson's  little 
book  of  letters  contains  things  as  good  as  any  in 
Cowper's.  Speaking  of  a  young  girl,  who  died 
suddenly  in  the  very  springtide  of  her  early  promise, 
he  says  :  "  It  seems  she  was  at  the  class  on  Monday  ; 
how  would  her  youthful  spirit  be  surprised  ere  Thursday 
to  find  herself  in  a  land  of  light  and  brilliancy,  where 
she  had  only  to  open  her  eyes  to  read  of  knowledge, 
and  to  take  her  place  among  the  accomplished  spirits 
of  the  just  made  perfect  !  "  But  time  and  space 
would  utterly  fail  us  if  we  tried  to  illustrate  the  richness 
and  occasional  splendour  of  the  gifts  that  were  un- 
grudgingly devoted  to  the  service  of  Christ  and  His 
Church  by  United  Presbyterian  ministers  in  obscure 
corners  of  the  land. 


Robertson  of  Irvine. 

WHO  can  ever  forget  an  evening  with  him — his 
unbounded  discourse,  his  vivacity,  his  speaking 
face,  and  above  all  his  unfeigned  humility,  openness  of 
heart,  and  desire  to  help  and  cheer  ? 

A  hearer  remembers  how  he  gave  out  the  softly 
musical  words  : 

"  As  streams  of  water  in  the  south, 
Our  bondage,  Lord,  recall." 


COUNTRY  MINISTERS  47 

To  hear  Robertson  reading  that  must  have  been  like 
hearing  Newman  reading  in  St.  Mary's  the  text  : 
"  For  Jerusalem,  which  is  above,  is  free,  which  is  the 
mother  of  us  all " — a  thing  which,  as  John  Shairp 
tells  us,  was  never  to  be  forgotten. 

When  he  was  called  to  Glasgow  Robertson  made 
a  long  and  highly  characteristic  speech.  Here  is  his 
idea  of  a  country  minister  :  "  Child  of  those  childless 
— father  of  their  orphans — brother  of  them  all  ; 
entering  into  all  their  household  joys  and  griefs  in  the 
most  homely  and  familiar  way  ;  interested  in  the 
father's  work  and  wages,  in  the  children's  education, 
in  the  son's  going  to  sea." 


REMEMBERED  SERMONS 


"  My  own  view  Is  that  what  people  go  to  church  to  hear  about 
is  religion,  and  by  religion  I  mean  Christianity,  and  by  Christianity 
I  mean  the  truths  that  are  inseparable  from  the  Cross.  The 
ablest,  the  freshest,  the  most  impressive  sermon  I  heard  in  Chag- 
ford  was  that  preached  by  a  layman  in  the  Bible  Christian  Chapel." 


The  Faith  of  Robertson  Smith. 

PROFESSOR  ROBERTSON  SMITH  added  in 

•••  Aberdeen  the  accomplishment  of  preaching  to 
his  many  other  accomplishments.  It  was  he,  who, 
addressing  an  evangelical  meeting  in  the  North 
Church,  gave  out  for  his  text,  "  Come  unto  Me,  all 
ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest,"  and  began  :  "  He  who  spoke  these  words 
is  present  at  our  meeting  to-night." 

Dr.  MartmeaiUs  Best. 

"  /"TAHE  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  Me."  No  one 
-1  who  has  read  Dr.  Martineau's  wonderful 
sermon  on  the  passage — perhaps  the  most  magnificent 
of  all  his  sermons,  one  in  which  that  great  master  of 
religious  language  has  used,  without  straining,  his 
utmost  resources — will  ever  hear  the  words  without 
remembering  it. 

48 


REMEMBERED  SERMONS         49 

James  Reid  of  Eastbourne. 

*  I  SHE  stillness  and  eagerness  of  the  listeners  were 
-••  extraordinary.  The  prophetic  passages  about 
China,  also  the  certain  failure  of  civilisation  apart 
from  Christianity,  will  be  remembered  by  those  who 
heard  them — not  for  the  skill  with  which  they  were 
phrased,  though  that  was  not  small,  but  for  their 
intrinsic  force.  I  desire  and  expect  for  Mr.  Reid  a 
great  future. 

A  Man  with  One  Talent. 

TT7HEN  I  was  a  boy  of  fifteen,  I  went  to  the 
East  Church,  to  hear  Professor  Flint,  then  of 
St.  Andrew's.  I  had  never  been  in  an  Established 
Church  before,  and  had  some  feeling  of  guilt.  But 
soon  the  passionate  eloquence  of  the  preacher,  the 
rush  of  his  words,  and  his  intense,  pallid  face,  lighted 
up  by  genuine  enthusiasm,  moved  me.  He  was  the 
first  preacher  I  ever  heard  who  spoke  to  students  in 
the  sense  that  he  made  them  feel  that  he  understood 
them.  I  cannot  recollect  the  text,  but  the  drift  of 
the  sermon  went  to  show  that  a  man  with  one  talent 
might  be  as  happy  as  a  man  with  ten,  if  only  he  made 
the  best  use  of  what  he  had  received. 

Dr.  John  Watson. 

TT7HEN  I   first  heard  him,  he  preached  on  the 

character  of  Jacob  ;   he  stated  the  case  for 

and  against  like  an  accomplished  lawyer,  and   then 


50  INFLUENCES 

summed  up  like  an  impartial  judge.  It  was  intensely 
interesting,  but  the  real  effect  was  produced  by  a  few 
electric  sentences  at  the  end. 

The  dangers  and  the  sorrows  of  his  people  were 
ever  in  his  mind.  More  than  once  after  his  death 
he  was  called  an  interpreter.  He  knew  men  so  well 
that  he  spoke  home  to  them  ;  he  knew  life  so  well 
that  he  understood  the  Bible  and  could  make  it  a 
living  book.  His  familiarity  with  life's  comedy  and 
tragedy  saved  him  from  cynicism  and  caricature,  and 
kept  him  sound  and  sweet  at  heart. 


Climax  upon  Climax. 

THE  most  popular  preacher,  beyond  comparison, 
was  Arthur  Mursell,  who  used  to  come  to 
lecture,  and  who  could  crowd  the  largest  churches  in 
Aberdeen  to  the  roof.  Only  once  in  my  life — 
although  I  have  heard  Mr.  Gladstone's  finest  efforts — 
have  I  seen  an  audience  fairly  set  ablaze,  and  that  was 
in  Mr.  Arthur's  church,  under  a  sermon  by  Mr. 
Mursell.  The  text  was,  "  For  her  sins  have  gone 
up  unto  heaven,  and  God  hath  remembered  her 
iniquities."  The  sermon  was  a  terrific  arraignment 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  climax  was  piled  on 
climax,  till,  in  the  end,  the  preacher  burst  out  with 
an  anticipation  of  Rome's  destruction,  and  people 
turned  round  and  gazed  on  one  another  in  their  pews. 
I  saw  the  sermon  in  print  and  was  not  struck  by  it, 
but  the  impression  of  the  hour  was  never  to  be  for- 
gotten ;  one  of  the  select  experiences  of  life. 


REMEMBERED  SERMONS         51 

Jowett  Seizes  and  Holds. 

1P\R.  JOWETT  took  for  his  text  the  passage  in 
-*^  Romans  :  "  For  scarcely  for  a  righteous  man 
will  one  die  ;  yet  peradventure  for  a  good  man  some 
would  even  dare  to  die.  But  God  commendeth  His 
love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us." 

In  Dr.  Jowett  everything  preaches.  The  voice 
preaches,  and  it  is  a  voice  of  great  range  and  compass, 
always  sweet  and  clear  through  every  variety  of 
intonation.  The  eyes  preach,  for  though  Dr.  Jowett 
apparently  writes  every  word  of  his  sermons,  he  is 
extraordinarily  independent  of  his  manuscript.  The 
body  preaches,  for  Dr.  Jowett  has  many  gestures, 
and  not  one  ungraceful.  But,  above  all,  the  heart 
preaches.  I  have  heard  many  great  sermons,  but 
never  one  at  any  time  which  so  completely  seized  and 
held  from  start  to  finish  a  great  audience.  I  had  in 
my  view  quite  a  long  row  of  people,  and,  so  far  as 
I  could  see,  not  one  ever  turned  away  from  the 
preacher. 

I  am  not  a  very  good  listener.  Sometimes  a  name 
or  a  phrase  sets  me  off  wool-gathering,  and  I  confess 
that  when  Dr.  Jowett  referred  to  Casaubon  as  an 
example  of  the  righteous  man,  I  began  to  think  how 
unjust  George  Eliot  had  been  to  Casaubon,  how 
ridiculous  it  was  to  call  him  an  old  fossil,  when  he 
was  a  little  over  forty  ;  how  absurd  it  was  to  say  that 
his  work  was  worthless  because  he  did  not  read 
German  ;  and,  above  all,  how  cruel  it  was  in  George 


52  INFLUENCES 

Eliot  to  put  Mark  Pattison  and  his  wife  in  her  novel. 
But,  with  that  exception,  I  did  not  wander  an  instant. 


The  True  Path. 

DR.  JOHN  KER  was  the  great  sermon-writer 
of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church. 

But  Dr.  Ker  was  much  more  than  a  sermon-writer. 
He  was  a  noble  preacher.  Though  his  health  was 
always  feeble,  and  he  was  incapable  of  "  oratory  "  in 
the  popular  sense,  he  was  among  the  most  impressive 
and  fascinating  speakers  I  have  ever  heard.  One 
week-night  service  he  conducted  in  a  country  church 
it  is  impossible  to  forget. 

The  text  chosen  was,  "  Go  thou  thy  way  till  the 
end  be,  for  thou  shalt  rest  and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the 
end  of  the  days."  I  do  not  remember  the  formal 
division,  but  the  three  words  dwelt  on  were  Way, 
End,  Rest.  First  there  was  an  End  ;  things  were 
not  always  to  be  perplexed  and  troubled. 

If  there  was  wisdom  at  all,  the  world  must  end,  and 
give  way  to  a  new  and  higher  sphere  to  them  that 
trust  God.  There  was  a  way  to  that  end  ;  secure, 
clear  to  all  who  trust  the  promises,  even  though 
striking  sometimes  through  the  sand,  or  by  a  path 
beset  with  thorns.  Each  had  his  own  way  5  an 
influence  within  his  reach  which  could  be  exerted 
by  none  other.  Take  the  true  path,  and  rest  would 
come  at  the  end,  and  the  final  appointed  place  for 
which  the  soul  was  fitted  :  "  Thou  shalt  stand  in  thy 
lot."  Heaven  was  human  and  homelike.  Those 


REMEMBERED  SERMONS          53 

who  lived  with  us  and  cheered  us  would  surround  us 
there.  It  would  be  good  to  meet  Moses  and  Paul 
and  the  saints,  but  better  to  meet  the  longed-for  and 
the  lost,  in  the  day  when  God  healed  the  breach  of 
His  people  and  bound  the  stroke  of  their  wound. 

ii 

Consoled  and  Refreshed. 

"EVERYONE  went  away  comforted.  All  the 
•*— '  aim  of  the  sermon  was  to  turn  away  the  hearers 
from  the  preacher's  personality  5  but  if  any  thought 
of  it,  they  must  have  felt  that  they  were  addressed 
from  a  singular  altitude  of  experience,  and  knowledge, 
and  power. 

The  more  one  saw  of  him,  the  more  astonishing 
did  the  width  of  his  culture  seem.  He  seemed  to 
know  more  than  anyone  else  about  everything  literary  ; 
talk  about  the  Turkish  Spy,  or  Mrs.  Browning's 
early  poetry,  or  the  folklore  of  Brittany,  and  he  could 
give  you  points  in  all. 

It  is  something  to  be  a  person  of  wide  miscellaneous 
reading  ;  if  there  are  many,  I  have  not  met  them. 
But  it  is  not  much,  after  all,  to  have  read  voraciously. 
Dr.  Ker  had  done  a  great  deal  more  ;  he  was  a  finished 
scholar,  who  never  dropped  the  student's  habit  for  all 
his  love  of  literature. 

Dr.  Pulsford  says  "  Luminous." 

THE  best  thing  in  Pulsford's  appearance  in  New 
College   Chapel  was  the  sight  of  the  great 
teacher  himself.     He  spoke  with  his  old  vehement 


54  INFLUENCES 

impatience  of  this  imprisoning  clay,  with  his  old 
rapture  of  the  luminous  body  which  is  to  be  the 
vehicle  of  the  freed  spirit.  It  was  worth  while  to 
go  there  simply  to  hear  him  pronounce  the  word 
"  luminous."  Surely  no  one,  since  St.  Paul,  has  so 
earnestly  desired  to  be  clothed  upon  with  the  house 
which  is  from  heaven. 


A  Missionary  Sermon. 

I  RECALL  vividly  the  late  Dr.  Archibald  Watson 
of  Dundee,  who  was  the  companion  of  Dr. 
Norman  Macleod  in  an  Indian  mission  tour.  He 
preached  very  sensibly  and  quietly  for  half  an  hour 
on  Indian  missions,  and  then  he  raised  the  dread 
question  as  to  the  fate  of  the  heathen.  After  picturing 
with  rising  emotion  the  many  virtues  and  the  sore 
oppressions  of  the  people,  he  said,  "  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  believe  that  such  men  are  lost,  and  "  (catching 
his  breath  with  a  heart-sob,  and  speaking  with  great 
intensity),  "  I  know  that  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth 
will  do  right." 


INNOCENT  MEMORIES 

"  Life,  as  it  goes  on,  tends  to  become  so  sordid,  that  the  heart 
grows  hard,  if  it  ceases  to  converse  with  the  past." 

MR.    DEWAR  OF  FOCHABERS 

Filled  with  Chanty. 

IV/fR.  DEWAR  of  Fochabers'  innocent  memory 
-^  -*•  must  long  linger  in  the  region  where  he 
lived  and  loved  so  long.  In  his  early  days  Mr. 
Dewar  was  an  intrepid  champion  of  the  Free  Church. 
He  took  a  prominent  part  in  its  fiercest  controversies, 
and  always  bore  himself  well.  But  when  I  knew 
him  he  was  an  old  man,  and  to  me  he  stands  out 
as  the  one  perfect  embodiment  I  have  ever  seen  of 
the  thirteenth  chapter  of  first  Corinthians,  a  chapter 
which,  it  is  worth  remembering,  was  written  not  by 
St.  John,  but  by  St.  Paul.  Indeed,  I  never  read  or 
hear  that  chapter  without  thinking  about  Mr.  Dewar. 
It  was  not  that  his  powers  or  faculties  or  memories 
were  gone.  It  was  other  than  that.  Everything 
was  fused  in  love.  Even  when  speaking  of  his 
bitterest  adversaries  (and  in  the  Disruption  his  adver- 
saries were  very  bitter),  he  spoke  with  a  large  and  pitiful 
charity.  To  one  cast  in  such  gentle  mould,  no  doubt 
the  world  came  gently  ;  but  he,  too,  had  his  trials, 
and  they  were  taken  very  calmly  and  quietly,  though 

55 


5  6  INFLUENCES 

it  was  but  too  easy  to  wound  a  heart  so  kind.  Mr. 
Dewar,  too,  received  young  ministers  with  ardent 
affection.  He  foresaw  the  brightest  things  from  their 
beginnings.  It  was  no  pain  for  him  to  be  eclipsed 
in  popularity  by  a  younger  preacher.  His  heart  was 
in  the  cause,  and  his  joy  in  the  thought  that  the  banner 
would  still  be  carried  when  his  hands  had  relaxed  its 
hold. 

MR.   M OF  SPEYSIDE 

i 
The  Majesty  of  an  Old  Minister. 

A  MORE  ardent,  fiery,  courageous  spirit  I  have 
never  known.  He  had  been  struck  by  para- 
lysis, and  thus  his  youthful  force  was  much  abated. 
Yet  you  could  see  even  then  what  it  must  have  been. 
Impulsive,  vehement,  fearless,  he  was  a  true  soldier 
of  the  Cross.  Like  his  brethren  of  the  same  period, 
he  had  much  of  the  majesty  of  the  old  parish  minister. 
From  his  beautiful  manse,  which  overlooked  the  Spey, 
you  could  see  a  great  tract  of  country,  and  you  could 
see  that  he  regarded  himself  as  the  one  minister  of  the 
region.  I  used  to  spend  a  day  and  night  at  his  house 
every  six  months  at  least.  He  had  much  to  say,  and 
much  that  was  well  worth  hearing,  but  invariably  he 
had  to  tell  you  about  two  things.  They  have  been 
so  impressed  upon  my  mind  that  in  the  total  ruin  of 
memory  I  think  I  shall  keep  them.  One  was  a  long 
story  about  a  call  which  he  received  many  years  before 
from  Paisley.  He  did  not  accept  it,  and  did  not 
encourage  the  overtures  made  to  him  j  but  sweet  in 


INNOCENT  MEMORIES  57 

the  old  man's  mind  was  the  remembrance  of  how  he 
had  been  unsuccessfully  wooed.  Another  great  event 
in  his  life  was  his  preaching  one  Sunday  in  Regent 
Square,  London,  when  Dr.  Hamilton  was  minister. 
There  was  a  good  congregation  in  the  morning,  but 
he  was  told  by  the  anxious  elder  who  was  his  host 
that  he  must  expect  very  few  in  the  evening.  Re- 
membering the  clannishness  of  the  Morayshire  loons 

in  London,  Mr.  M thought  differently.     He  did 

not  contradict  his  host,  however,  but  listened  in 
silence  while  he  explained.  When  they  got  to  the 
church  they  were  told  that  the  building  was  crowded. 
I  forget  what  the  collection  for  the  day  was,  but  I  am 
tolerably  sure  it  was  more  than  £100.  With  what 
delight  this  story  was  told  !  Out  of  the  old  man's 
past  these  two  events  stood  vividly. 


n 

Bathed  in  Light. 

1\ /TR.  M was   a  true  old   Highland  gentle- 

*-*  *•  man,  who  never  on  any  occasion  offered 
advice.  But  when  he  was  asked  for  it,  it  was  good 
to  see  the  serious  earnestness  with  which  he  went  into 
the  case,  how  anxiously  he  made  himself  acquainted 
with  every  circumstance,  and  how  eager  he  was  to 
do  his  very  best.  You  saw  him  then  to  be  a  wise 
and  experienced  man,  and  you  saw,  too,  how  little 
personal  interest  counted  with  him  when  the  cause  of 
Christ  was  concerned.  It  was  much  to  see  him  on 
the  evening  of  a  Communion  Sunday  after  he  had 


5  8  INFLUENCES 

preached,  in  spite  of  fears  and  infirmities,  with  the 
utmost  earnestness  and  copiousness.  He  was  quiet 
and  gentle  ;  his  mind  evidently  still  lingering  on  the 
high  themes  of  which  he  had  spoken.  I  see  him  now 
as  he  looked  on  one  of  those  evenings — worn  and 
weary,  yet  on  fire  ;  as  one  who  had  been  caught  up 
to  the  third  heaven  and  had  but  newly  descended. 


II.    THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 


WORK 

"  We  were  born  to  suffer  as  well  as  to  work,  and  the  better  we 
work,  the  better  we  shall  suffer." 


^  labour  on" 

THE  great  safeguard  for  nearly  all  of  us  is  to  be 
found  in  almost  unrelaxed  industry.  It  is 
pernicious  also  to  despise  certain  forms  of  labour. 
Utopia  itself  will  need  scavengers.  But  "  I  will  make 
thee  ruler  over  leisure,"  is  a  great  promise  to  be 
perfectly  fulfilled  on  high,  where  endless  service  means 
endless  rest. 


Common  Sense. 

IT  is  never  pleasant  to  say  "  no,"  and  yet  humanity 
is  not  easily  succoured,  and  it  is  only  now  and 
then  that  efficient  and  timely  help  can  be  given. 


'  Too  Busy." 

A  PHRASE  I  once  heard  rings  in  my  ears — "  The 
man  who  was  too  busy  to  do  his  duty."     It  is 
no  excuse  for  a  business  man  that  he  serves  his  church 
well,  if  he  serves  his  employer  ill. 

61 


62  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

The  Need  for  Endurance. 

LET  us  hope  not  to  escape  lawfully  from  law. 
Irksomeness,  strain  and  struggle  are  the  notes 
of  every  true  and  valiant  life.  We  must  bear  burdens 
and  face  difficulties  while  we  may,  with  that  courage 
that  is  the  root  of  all  virtue.  We  are  right  when  we 
claim  the  work  that  fits  us  best ;  we  are  right  when 
we  protest  against  cramping  and  stifling  conventionali- 
ties. But  we  are  wrong — wrong  to  the  centre — 
when  we  rebel  against  toil,  against  difficulty,  against 
disappointment,  against  wholesome  pressure.  It  has 
been  said  well  that  "  the  deepest  root  of  moral  disorder 
lies  in  an  immoderate  expectation  of  happiness."  Nor 
does  happiness  dwell  with  lawlessness.  Though  we 
sold  our  clocks  and  watches,  and  broke  both  the  tables 
of  stone,  we  should  still  be  miserable.  For  the  law 
is  written  in  our  hearts. 

The  Peace  of  the  Labourer. 

f  I  ^HE  best  day,  the  happiest  day,  is  the  day  when 
•*•  every  hour  is  estimated  with  a  most  scrupulous 
care  until  all  the  programme  of  work  is  accomplished, 
and  it  is  marvellous  how  in  labour  the  torments  of 
the  spirit  are  scattered.  "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto,  and  I  work,"  said  Christ,  and  the  labourer 
understands  the  union. 

Persevering. 

FT  has  been  proved  true  over  and  over  again  that 
-*•  those  who  were  firm  of  purpose,  and  set  their 
faces  to  the  north  wind  and  the  winter,  were  rewarded 


WORK  63 

by  the  falling  down  of  the  walls  that  held  them  in, 
and  became  free  men. 


On  Encouraging  the  Worker. 

'  I  VHERE  is  no  time  at  which  a  word  of  kindness 
-*•  is  so  sweet  as  in  the  early  years.  Many  men^ 
middle-aged  or  old,  could  still  repeat  to  you  the 
scanty  words  of  praise  which  they  heard  from  their 
teachers  and  professors  at  a  time  when  the  heart  was 
sensitive  and  warm. 

The  boy  who  has  been  working  well  at  school 
ought  to  be  told  of  it  by  those  he  loves  best.  It  will 
nerve  his  heart  for  the  struggle,  and  it  will  strengthen 
those  ties  the  firmness  of  which  we  are  all  apt  to  take 
too  much  for  granted. 

Kindness  to  the  Stupid. 

A  S  you  thank  God  humbly  for  His  gifts  and  mercies, 
•*  *•  you  will  dedicate  them  to  the  service  of  those 
slow,  stupid  people  who  are  blind  and  deaf  to  so  much 
that  makes  your  own  life  worth  living. 

On  Spending  One's  Leisure. 

T  HAVE  always  found  that  the  happiest  people  are 
-•*  those  who  give  part  of  their  leisure  to  altruistic 
work,  who  go  out  in  the  evenings  and  teach  in  schools, 
or  speak  in  working  men's  institutes,  or  work  for 
their  churches,  or  serve  some  great  and  difficult  cause. 
There  is  something  in  labour  of  that  kind  which  makes 


64  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

life  sweet.  I  know  many  hardworking  and  successful 
business  men  who  do  this,  and  who  care  more  about 
that  part  of  their  lives  than  about  the  money- making 
part.  They  always  speak  about  the  work  as  if  there 
were  no  other.  And  yet  some  of  us  who  do  nothing 
of  that  kind  are  very  happy  in  our  chosen  labour,  and 
long  for  the  leisure  hours  to  come.  Is  this  wrong  ? 
I  do  not  know.  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from  Thy 
Spirit  ?  " 


CIRCUMSTANCE 

"  Childhood  and  youth  should  be  made  happy  as  far  as  possible.'* 

Thinking  It  Over  :  a  Duty. 

AM  convinced  that  multitudes  have  yielded  too 
•*•  soon.  In  the  lives  of  great  men  we  may  read 
that  the  tide  often  turned  just  when  they  were  on  the 
point  of  despair.  I  call  to  mind  Carlyle,  Napoleon, 
Cromwell,  and  many  others.  In  the  same  way,  the 
surroundings  which  are  hostile  to  the  life  and  peace 
of  the  spirit  may  be  escaped  from,  and,  if  the  door 
can  be  forced  open,  they  ought  to  be  escaped  from. 

The  Divine  Drift. 

T7OLLOW  no  advice  unless  you  are  personally 
•*•  convinced  that  it  is  right.  If  you  have  decided 
a  matter  after  full  consideration,  do  not  imagine 
afterwards  that  your  choice  was  wrong.  Wait,  and 
you  will  see  that  you  did  the  right  thing.  Most  of 
us  in  the  course  of  our  lives  have  come  to  a  fork  in 
the  road.  We  did  not  know  along  which  direction 
we  should  proceed,  but  after  a  time  we  made  a  selec- 
tion. Now  we  think  it  would  have  been  well  if  we 
had  made  another.  Two  situations  were  offered  to 
us  at  one  time,  and  we  chose,  let  us  say  the  humbler, 
and  have  been  allowed  to  remain  in  it.  We  think 
i — 5  65 


66  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

to  ourselves,  "  If  I  had  taken  the  higher  place  I  should 
have  done  better."  No,  not  better,  and  if  you  wait 
long  enough  you  will  see  a  light  will  fall  upon  the  past, 
and  you  will  find  that  your  own  will  had  much  less 
to  do  with  your  choice  than  you  imagined,  that  there 
was  a  deep  divine  drift  which  has  vindicated  itself. 

God  Knows. 

SOME  may  read  these  lines  who  keep  wondering  all 
the  time  why  they  ever  took  up  the  work  they  are 
doing,  why  they  ever  came  to  live  where  they  are 
living.  If  they  had  chosen  another  way,  the  whole 
world  would  have  been  different.  Let  such  take  heart. 
To-morrow  they  may  meet  the  friend  whose  friend- 
ship will  be  the  best  blessing  of  the  years,  the  friend 
whom  they  never  could  have  met  on  any  other  path. 
Some  are  faithfully  drudging  in  poorly  requited  toil 
with  hardly  a  hope  beyond  it.  To-morrow  they  may 
discover  that  keen  eyes  have  been  watching  them,  and 
silently  marking  their  fidelity  and  patience.  They 
may  be  suddenly  raised  beyond  their  utmost  dreams. 
It  is  well  to  cherish  no  illusions,  to  go  on  diligently 
with  the  appointed  task,  making  the  best  of  what  comes, 
and  with  the  full  resolution  not  to  flinch,  though  no 
sudden  brightness  fall  upon  the  life. 

Stones  into  Pillows. 

TT  7"E  are  afraid  there  are  very  many  who  openly 

or  secretly  are  at  war  with  their  circumstances. 

There  are  those  who  have  had  a  choice,  and  who 


CIRCUMSTANCE  67 

believe  that  they  chose  wrongly.  This  must  be  very 
bitter.  It  must  be  hard  to  think  "  Once  the  door 
opened  :  it  will  never  open  any  more  for  me.  I 
thought  I  was  in  a  home,  free  to  go  out  and  to  come 
in,  and  now  I  discover  that  I  am  in  prison,  with  no 
escape  save  in  death.  The  walls  are  built  round  me 
and  I  cannot  scale  them."  We  have  known  men  in 
remote  places  who  could  not  help  talking  of  the 
opportunity  they  had  missed  long,  long  ago  :  who 
could  not  help  repining  because  they  refused  to  avail 
themselves  of  it.  Perhaps  those  of  us  are  happier 
who  never  have  much  choice  in  our  lives,  who  seem 
at  one  crisis  after  another  to  have  only  one  road  at 
our  feet,  who  have  no  repinings  as  to  mistaken  prefer- 
ences and  misguided  elections.  But  it  does  not  follow 
that  we  are  where  we  might  wish  to  be.  We  had  no 
choice  indeed  ;  but  if  the  choice  had  been  ours,  we 
would  not  have  chosen  the  place  in  which  we  are 
living  now,  the  work  which  we  are  dully  and  wearily 
performing,  the  companionships  in  which  we  must 
acquiesce. 

But  the  manly,  Christian  way  out  of  all  this  is  the 
way  of  Jacob.  He  took  the  stones  of  that  place  and 
made  them  into  a  pillow.  He  accepted  the  place  as 
the  scene  of  a  heavenly  vision.  Like  the  Apostle  in 
the  dungeon,  the  other  Apostle  in  the  midst  of  the 
Lake  of  Galilee,  Cleopas  on  the  road  to  Emmaus, 
John  in  the  isle  which  is  called  Patmos — he  beheld 
the  vision  of  God,  and  he  took  of  the  stones  of  that 
place  and  made  them  a  pillow.  That  is,  it  is  just 
possible  to  convert  the  very  disadvantages  and  hard- 


68  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

nesses  of  any  place  into  blessings,  into  rests  for  the  weary 
head  and  heart.  How  often  this  has  come  to  pass  ! 
The  monotony,  the  loneliness,  the  great  leisure  of  a 
lonely  island,  may  turn  a  happy  soul  grey.  On  the 
other  hand,  they  may  be  used  for  study,  for  labour, 
for  the  gradual  mastery  of  some  rich  domain  of  thought. 
A  man  may  go  into  such  a  place  ignorant  and  power- 
less. He  may  turn  himself  in  such  a  place  into  a 
scholar  and  a  master. 


Kindling  Faith  in  Others. 

A  MAN  may  find  his  place  barren  of  spiritual 
"*-  *•  companionship,  and  if  he  has  come  from  a 
warm,  believing  air,  he  may  be  chilled  to  the  very 
bone  by  the  frost  around  him.  But  how  if  he  sets 
himself  through  the  fire  of  his  own  faith  to  kindle  the 
hearts  of  others  ?  What  is  a  greater  joy  than  that  ? 
What  is  a  greater  joy  than  the  joy  of  imparting  light 
in  that  manner  ?  He  may  isolate  himself  5  he  may 
stand  apart  in  a  sombre  indifference  ;  but  he  may  be 
wiser.  He  may  set  himself  to  communicate  his  own 
life,  and  that  life  will  blaze  up  in  its  turn.  So  it  is 
that  men  turn  stones  into  pillows. 

A.  C.  Benson,  who  is  very  teachable,  has  some  hard 
things  to  learn,  for  he  says  :  "  No  one  ever  gives  a 
thought,  except  a  grateful  one,  to  past  suffering.  If 
it  leaves  its  handwriting  on  brow  and  cheek,  it  leaves 
no  shadow  on  the  spirit  within.  It  is  so  easy  to  see 
this  in  the  lives  of  others,  however  hard  it  is  to  realise 
it  for  oneself."  Rather,  it  is  true  that  when  night 


CIRCUMSTANCE  69 

enters  into  the  human  soul  it  never  leaves  it,  though 
the  stars  may  rise.  And  yet  our  light  affliction, 
which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far  more 
exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.  For  no 
Christian  can  think  of  pain  without  thinking  of 
heaven.  Jacob  dreamed  on  the  stony  pillow,  and  saw 
the  ladder  reaching  to  heaven.  So  Christians  dream. 
"  My  father's  life,"  said  Hazlitt,  "  was  a  dream,  but 
it  was  a  dream  of  infinity  and  eternity,  of  death,  the 
resurrection,  and  judgment  to  come  !  "  The  earthly 
allotment  matters  less  than  we  think.  At  the  best 
we  are  conscious  of  ideas  that  we  cannot  utter  and 
purposes  that  we  cannot  achieve  here.  It  is  in 
another  world  that  the  soul  within  us  may  hope  to 
dilate  and  act. 


All  In  Vain. 

THING  is  more  natural  to  us  than  to  hover 
round    the    strait    gate    trying    whether    we 
cannot  argue  it  a  little  wider. 


Useful  Comparison. 

BELIEVE  that  a  great  deal  of  the  mists  and 
-*•  shadows  of  life  would  be  dispelled  at  once  if  only 
we  had  someone  to  discuss  them  with.  The  grievances 
of  one  man  would  be  swept  away  by  the  grievances  of 
another 


yo  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

Listen,  Brother  ! 

/TTVHE  first  thing  to  do  is  to  make  the  best  of  what 
-*•  you  possess,  to  cultivate  a  knowledge  and  a 
love  of  your  surroundings.  Imagine,  if  you  can, 
that  the  axis  of  the  earth  projects  from  the  centre  of 
your  village  square. 

By  taking  thought,  each  may  find  his  home  richer 
in  beauty  than  he  had  thought  it. 

It  is  still  more  necessary  to  cultivate  a  kindly 
interest  in  your  kind.  Kindly  gossip  is  the  salt  of 
conversation.  It  is  inhuman  to  live  in  the  country 
and  to  care  nothing  for  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  your 
neighbours.  People  love  and  prize  sympathy  more 
than  anything  else,  and  they  will  forgive  much  to  a 
sympathetic  gossip. 

It  is  necessary  to  be  in  contact  with  a  broader  life 
than  that  of  the  country  parish  or  the  little  town. 
Well,  there  is  always  the  escape  of  books.  The  mind 
in  a  quiet  and  leisurely  life  must  be  able  to  a  large 
extent  to  feed,  not  upon  itself,  but  upon  its  own 
possessions,  and  to  furnish  its  own  delights.  The 
chief  misery  of  an  isolated  life  is  that  in  many  cases 
it  dwarfs  and  stunts  the  intellect.  It  may  even  kill 
all  intellectual  curiosity,  and  that  is  death  indeed.  In 
order  to  prevent  this,  it  is  wise  to  carry  on  a  course 
of  reading  or  study.  I  know  a  country  gentleman 
who  many  years  ago  took  up  Egyptology.  He  has 
pursued  it  with  great  diligence,,  and  has  now  so  good 
a  knowledge  of  the  subject  that  he  is  able  to  meet 
on  fairly  equal  terms  the  best  experts.  It  has  been  a 


CIRCUMSTANCE  71 

wonderful  thing  for  him  in  many  ways,  chiefly  because 
it  has  kept  the  current  of  his  mind  clear,  and  has 
given  him  a  new  interest  in  life.  It  has  also  been 
the  means  of  winning  some  valuable  friendships.  Be 
it  observed  that  the  study  would  have  been  com- 
paratively useless  if  it  had  been  languidly  pursued  ;  but 
it  was  carried  out  with  earnest  perseverance.  I  should 
not  greatly  pity  any  friend  in  his  loneliness,  if  I  knew 
that  he  had  an  interest  of  this  kind. 

One  ought  to  have  certain  things  to  look  forward  to 
every  day,  and  the  chief  thing  no  doubt  will  be  as  a 
rule  the  letters.  You  cannot  get  good  letters  unless 
you  write  them.  Your  post  will  be  pretty  much  what 
you  make  it. 

Looking  Back. 

THE  road  has  wound  uphill  all  the  way.  It  has 
been  stony  and  sore  for  the  feet,  but  one  day  it 
ends  in  a  fountain  of  refreshment.  The  lonely  months 
and  years  are  suddenly  closed  in  a  sweet  and  sufficient 
experience  of  companionship.  The  heart  that  has 
been  kept  from  love  so  long  finds  at  last  a  truer, 
tenderer  love  than  any  that  has  passed  it  and  missed 
it  in  the  bygone  days.  Then  the  path  of  tears  takes 
another  aspect.  It  was  the  path  that  led  to  this,  and 
so  it  was  right,  it  was  good,  it  was  blessed.  How 
transforming  is  the  knowledge  that  one  has  not  been 
left  to  stumble  uncared  for  and  unheeded,  but  that  the 
kindly  Light  was  leading,  and  that  the  end  is  not 
among  the  dismal  swamps,  but  in  the  region  of  peace 
and  rest. 


72  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

Necessary  Effort. 

WE  must  arrange  to  see  our  friends  as  often  as  we 
can  manage  it,  and  correspondence  must  not 
be  wholly  neglected,  even  in  the  years  when  life  is 
most  crowded  and  burdensome.  I  have  seen  strange 
desolations  settling  down  upon  the  closing  years  of 
life,  when  friendship  is  most  needed,  due  to  the 
criminal  neglect  with  which  true  friends  were  treated 
at  a  time  when  it  seemed  as  if  they  could  be  dispensed 
with. 

Remembering  the  Best 

THERE  is  a  way  of  training  memory  so  that  it 
shall  cast  out  much  at  least  of  what  is  little 
and  what  is  unclean.  Alas  !  when  we  think  of  all 
that  memory  loses,  so  much  of  the  flower  of  thought 
and  wit,  so  many  words,  sweet,  solemn,  and  nobly 
ordered,  that  have  passed  away,  while  they  were  still 
ringing  in  our  ears,  and  when  we  think  of  the  poor 
dregs  it  holds  against  our  will — we  may  well  bemoan 
ourselves.  But  the  true  tragedy  is  to  allow  hard 
experiences  to  root  themselves  in  our  souls. 


DELIGHT 

"  Crowned  with  the  memory  and  experience  of  happy  years." 

Christ  in  All. 

IT  has  been  miserably  objected  that,  even  if  He  was 
sinless.  He  did  nothing  for  the  intellectual  or 
artistic  progress  of  the  world.  Well,  He  did  not  come 
to  be  the  drawing-master  or  the  scientific  tutor  of 
mankind.  His  name  was  called  Jesus  because  He 
was  to  save  His  people  from  their  sins,  and  He  has 
been,  and  is  to-day,  mighty  to  save  —  able  to  save  to 
the  uttermost  all  that  come  unto  God  by  Him.  Yet 
art  and  science  and  philosophy  have  received  a  new 
life  from  Him.  With  the  risen  Saviour,  all  things  rise. 


^  the  Teacher. 

THE  call  of  affection,  and  that  only,  awakens  the 
soul.  No  man  knows  what  he  can  do  till  he 
has  learned  to  love.  Love  blows  the  trumpet  of 
resurrection  over  the  graves  where  his  faculties  are 
buried,  and  wakens  them  into  energy  and  fruitfulness. 
Love  teaches  him  how  he  can  work,  and  think,  and 
feel.  But  in  the  full  sense,  we  have  no  friend  but  our 
Saviour.  He,  and  He  only,  touches  our  natures  at 
every  point.  Else  why  the  deep  craving  for  sympathy 

73 


74  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

of  which  the  world  is  full  ?  Why  are  the  closest 
ties  so  sharply  sundered  ?  These  needs  and  pangs 
turn  us  to  Christ. 


Joy  in  Small  Things. 

LONG  ago  I  read  of  a  Scottish  minister  who  had 
an  ugly  little  church.  The  church,  however, 
boasted  a  beautiful  Norman  door.  The  minister  took 
such  pride  in  the  door  that  he  came  to  believe  all  the 
building  as  fair  as  the  entrance,  and  to  consider 
himself  more  highly  favoured  than  his  brethren  in 
city  cathedrals. 


DISCIPLINE 

"  We  may  beat  to  windward  in  poverty.  When  we  no  longer 
go  with  a  fair  wind  and  have  to  tack  constantly  against  a  foul 
one,  we  may  cease  to  be  spoiled  children." 

Consecration. 

A  LOVING  parent  will  not  merely  save  money 
*  *•  for  his  children  ;  he  will  sanctify  himself  for 
their  sakes.  He  will  remember  that  he  stands  to  them 
as  the  ideal  of  goodness  and  truth  ;  he  will  realise 
the  awful  obligations  implied  in  their  pure  belief 
about  him  ;  he  will  remember  that  he  cannot  take  his 
own  life  without  taking  theirs.  What  unutterable 
loss  if  Christ  had  even  for  one  moment  failed  to 
sanctify  Himself  ! 

Following  Christ. 

THE  most  absolute  self-forgetfulness  and  self- 
devotion  can  hide  in  a  palace  as  well  as  in  a 
cottage.  The  print  of  the  nails  may  not  always  be 
obvious  underneath  kid  gloves  and  silver  slippers, 
although  God  sees  it  is  really  there.  Well  for  us  if 
He,  at  least,  does  see  it.  But  woe  unto  us  if  we 
shrink  back  and  refuse  that  hard,  sharp  self-denial, 
whatever  it  be,  which  Christ  is  pressing  home  upon 
our  consciences. 

75 


76  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

The  Haunting  Call. 

WHEN  all  the  interpreters  have  said  their  most 
and  best,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  keeps 
looking  at  us,  haunting  us,  trying  us,  calling  us, 
stirring  our  hearts  and  consciences,  summoning  us 
upward  and  still  upward.  There  are  signs  that  the 
deeper  Christian  thought  of  our  time  is  beginning  to 
think  of  the  old  way  in  which  many  followed 
Christ.  What  if  after  all  He  really  means  that 
many  of  us  should  sell  all  we  have  for  the  treasure 
and  the  pearl  ? 


Rebuffs  and  Refusals. 

GREAT  deliverances  come  to  believers  when  hope 
is  almost  dead,  when  the  doors  are  so  many 
and  so  fast,  and  the  enemies  so  strong  and  so  wakeful 
that  it  seems  as  if  the  way  were  quite  closed.  The 
days  when  we  have  been  rebuffed  in  every  quarter 
and  know  not  what  further  we  can  do  !  The  time 
when  it  seems  as  if  every  effort  has  been  foiled  and 
there  is  none  other  we  can  make  !  The  day  when 
we  catch  at  the  last  chance  !  When  we  think  of 
one  more  succour  that  may  be  available,  of  one  heart 
left  in  the  world  that  may  yet  pity — and  try — and  fail. 
The  day  when  no  answer  comes  to  the  last  imploring 
appeal,  or  an  answer  which  is  a  cold  and  cruel 
refusal  !  We  are  happy  if  in  such  an  hour  we 
can  still  trust  and  wait  patiently  for  the  interposition 
of  God. 


DISCIPLINE  77 

Looking  Forward. 

THE    future    is    His,    not   ours.     We   have   no 
concern  with  one  day  of  it. 

The  times,  the  seasons,  the  circumstances — these 
things  should  not  load  us  with  the  lightest  burden. 
Nor  are  we  to  be  overmuch  concerned  about  outward 
activities.  There  be  those  who  make  themselves 
miserable  when  they  do  not  write  a  book  every  year, 
or  when  they  do  not  fill  up  a  long  calendar  of  engage- 
ments. When  it  is  the  will  of  Christ  we  must  hold 
ourselves  ready  to  speak,  to  act,  to  fight.  When  it 
is  not,  we  please  Him  by  retiring  into  that  recollection 
within  the  central  source  of  light  in  which  so  many 
were  once  wisely  content  to  spend  their  lives.  Their 
activities  might  be  rare,  but  their  force  will  tell  on  the 
universe  for  ever. 

Bread  eaten  in  Tears. 

fT  is  through  suffering  and  renunciations  and 
-*•  privation  and  weariness  that  all  the  finer  qualities 
of  the  soul  are  evoked.  We  know  the  heavenly 
powers  only  when  we  know  what  it  is  to  have  eaten 
our  bread  in  tears.  Sorrow,  faithfully  and  humbly 
endured,  is  what  makes  the  soul. 

The  Call  to  Rest. 

fT  may  be,  and  it  sometimes  is,  just  as  much  the 
-**  work  of  the  Lord  to  rest  as  to  labour.  What  is 
constant  is  our  obligation  to  abound  in  the  work  of 


78  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

the  Lord,  to  toil  and  to  cease  from  toiling  in  His 
presence,  by  His  strength,  under  His  eye. 


In  the  Lengthening  Shadows. 

RIST  would  not  be  taken  down  from  the  cross 
till  the  evening,  and  we  must  not  be  weary  of 
bearing  the  cross  till  the  evening  of  our  lives. 

Day  by  Day. 

CONTINUANCE  in  well-doing  is  a  rare  and 
^^  wonderful  thing.  That  a  man  should  continue 
even  in  depressing  circumstances,  to  do  his  very  best, 
year  in  and  year  out,  shows  real  decision  of  character, 
and  invariably  makes  a  deep  impression  sooner  or 
later.  The  rule  is  to  live  by  days,  and  to  do  your  best 
in  each  day.  When  you  waken,  you  realise  that  this 
day  is  before  you,  and  no  more.  Get  through  it  well, 
and  the  next  day  will  meet  you  with  a  more  cheerful 
front.  Go  on  in  this  way,  and  at  last  you  will  rear  a 
stable  edifice  wherein  you  may  dwell  in  peace. 


PRAYER 


"  Some  people  seem  to  think  that  our  Blessed  Lord  left  a 
promise,  '  Where  two  or  three  thousand  are  gathered  together, 
there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them.'  He  did  no  such  thing.  He  was 
much  too  kind.  He  knew  that  prayer-meetings  were  going  to  be 
so  small." 


"  Into  Glory  Peep." 

1\ /TANY,  we  are  sure,  count  as  among  the  highest 
-*•*•*•  and  most  luminous  hours  of  life  the  little 
prayer-meetings  they  have  attended  in  humble  places 
in  kitchens  and  barns.  It  all  comes  before  them  so 
vividly  that  they  are  tempted  to  think  that  no  experi- 
ences have  been  graven  so  deep  as  these.  They  recall 
the  walk  to  the  meeting-place,  perhaps  on  a  moonlit 
night  of  snow,  the  long  shadows,  the  "  holier  day," 
the  hopeful  loneliness,  the  sense  that  they  were  on 
the  road  to  Christ,  to  a  full  manifestation  of  His 
presence.  Thus  we  come  to  the  low  doorway  through 
which  love,  and  grief,  and  patience,  and  hope  approach 
Him,  and  enter  the  little  room  where  we  mark  His 
blest  abode,  and  into  glory  peep.  The  little  company 
of  grave,  subdued  worshippers  gradually  take  their 
places,  and  one  is  aware  of  the  deep,  still  current 
of  thought  flowing  towards  the  present  Christ,  the 
growing  sense  of  His  mastery  over  us. 

79 


8o  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

Non-moral  Prayers. 

TT7"E  doubt  whether  there  are  non-moral  prayers. 
For,  as  we  are  always  drawn  out  in  tenderness 
for  anyone  who  we  see  is  looking  to  us  in  great  expecta- 
tion and  tenderly  confiding  in  us,  this  must  also  be  true 
of  God. 


Books. 

TN  this  department  our  devotional  literature  is  weak. 
-*•  We  have  the  prayers  of  Lynch  in  his  Sermons 
for  my  Curates,  and  they  are  the  most  beautiful  we 
know.  We  have  the  prayers  of  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
and  they  are  remarkable  for  their  wistful  tenderness. 
We  have  a  noble  volume  of  prayers  from  Dr.  Maclaren. 
But  there  is  that  in  Dr.  Dods'  prayers  which  we  do 
not  find  elsewhere,  and  we  are  convinced  that  those 
who  study  them  will  be  strengthened  and  calmed  and 
inspired  as  they  see  a  devout  and  reverent  nature 
rising  into  obvious  communion  with  the  Father  of 
Spirits.  The  Master  had  taught  him  "  how  to  pray." 


The  Prayers  of  Jesus. 

THE  Church  has  told  us  that  in  hours  of  high 
communion  the  presence  of  brethren  with 
whom  we  hold  intercourse  in  articulate  speech  is 
not  more  but  less  real  to  the  soul  than  that  Infinite 
Mind  Whose  language  they  have  heard  by  inward 
listening.  They  cannot  tell  us  more,  but  they  assure 


PRAYER  8 1 

us  that  they  feel  One  near  at  hand,  within,  without, 
and  around,  not  as  an  unknown  power,  but  as  the  central 
life  and  light  and  joy  of  all.  If  this  is  true  of  the 
saints,  how  much  more  true  must  it  be  of  Christ  ! 
For  in  His  holy  soul  there  was  nothing  that  could 
misunderstand  or  oppose  the  divine  revelation.  No 
darkness,  no  sin,  no  encrustation  barred  the  way. 
His  whole  nature  lay  open  to  God,  as  a  river  to  the 
shining  of  the  moon.  The  Gospels  bear  witness 
with  one  voice  to  His  continual  intercourse  with  the 
Father.  They  tell  us  how  He  went  out,  when  the 
dawn  was  scarcely  grey,  to  hold  communion  with 
God,  how  wondrous  evenings  of  miracle  were  followed 
by  still  more  wondrous  mornings  of  prayer,  how  He 
betook  Himself  to  solitude  to  converse,  which  was 
broken  by  no  word  of  penitence  or  doubt.  They 
tell  us  how,  as  the  weight  of  His  trial  grew,  He  engaged 
Himself  more  and  more  earnestly  in  prayer,  and 
understood  that  the  Father  was  husbanding  the  True 
Vine. 


The  Hour  of  Deep  Consent. 

PRAYER  is  at  once  the  easiest  and  the  hardest  of 
spiritual  exercises.     At  the  beginning  the  path 
is  straight  and  clear.     Even  then  we  ask  for  words, 
and  they  are  given  us.     As  the  soul  lifts  itself  to  the 
Eternal,  it  craves  for  the  subtle  and  unsleeping  ministry 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.     It  seeks  an  atmosphere  in  which 
prayer  may  utter  itself.     At  last — such  is  the  marvel 
and  mystery  of  supplication — it  seeks  that  God  should 
1—6 


82  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

speak  to  God.  It  is  not  satisfied  any  more  with  being 
taught  to  pray.  It  asks  to  be  the  shrine  in  which 
prayer  is  presented,  rather  than  the  priest  who  pleads. 
More  than  the  presence  of  the  Son  of  God  praying  by 
our  side  is  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  praying 
within.  '  The  Spirit  maketh  intercession  for  us  with 
groanings  that  cannot  be  uttered."  As  Christ  stood 
for  us,  our  substitute  in  death,  so  the  Holy  Spirit 
stands  for  us,  our  substitute  in  prayer.  The  heart  is 
quiet  in  that  hour  of  deep  consent — with  the  peace 
of  the  river  that  has  found  the  sea,  of  the  bird  homed 
in  the  nest  with  tired  wings  folded.  It  shares  the 
secret  of  the  divine  purpose,  and  is  one  in  every  point 
with  the  holy  and  prevailing  Will.  The  redeemed 
heart  moves  forward  like  the  first  of  all  days,  from 
the  evening  to  the  morning — from  the  Old  Covenant 
to  the  New — till  it  touches,  in  the  intercession  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  within  the  believer,  that  moment  of 
intense  yearning  which  signs  and  crowns  the  last 
experience  of  grace. 


Offerer  and  Answer. 

/  I  VHE  unutterable  groanings  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
-*•  mean  that  the  heart  craves  for  the  unutterable. 
Our  desires  go  forward  above  every  earthly  good. 
Struggle,  pain,  weariness,  darkness — we  pass  through 
them  knowing  they  are  but  for  a  little  time.  We  are 
helped  in  our  infirmity  by  the  clasping,  supporting 
hand  of  the  Spirit.  But  immunity  from  sorrow  will 
not  suffice  us.  Our  Divine  Friend  has  prayed  for 


PRAYER  83 

us  the  unutterable  prayer  and  stirred  within  us  the 
unspeakable  desire,  and  the  finite  seeks  the  Infinite. 
The  meaning  of  our  true  end  comes  breaking  through 
the  years.  The  believing  heart  even  now  plunges 
into  the  depths  of  the  Divine,  where  the  reason  cannot 
follow.  As  God  is  the  Offerer  of  Prayer,  so  must 
God  be  the  Answer  to  Prayer. 


The  First  Duty. 

TT  is  not  the  will  of  Christ  that  we  should  depend 
-**  merely  on  the  hope  of  the  future.  It  is  not  His 
will  that  any  part  of  life  should  be  a  blank  space — an 
uncomforted  stretch  of  desert  through  which  we 
march  to  the  Promised  Land.  The  remedy  for  care 
is  to  realise  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  moment  by 
moment,  touching  all  existence,  and  glorifying  it — if 
we  will — with  peace  and  joy.  That  can  only  be  if 
we  abide  in  Him  by  that  continual  exercise  of  prayer 
which  to  Christians  must  more  and  more  appear  the 
supremely  reasonable  thing  in  the  business  of  existence. 

The  Return  of  Spring. 

"  TN  the  midst  of  the  years  make  known  "  is  a  prayer 
-**  not  for  a  change  of  surroundings,  but  for  lordship 
over  them.  And  this  mastery  comes  to  us  only  in 
one  way.  God  in  Christ  must  disclose  Himself. 
We  must  return  to  the  Lord,  and  receive  from  Him 
the  deep  and  vital  power  we  have  lost. 

More  than  the  vanished  splendour  of  the  heavenly 


84  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

vision  which  quickened  our  youth  comes  back  to  us, 
and  with  it  the  spring  returns. 

By  this  revival  we  are  brought  into  tune  with 
circumstance.  We  cease  to  be  rebellious,  or  chilled, 
or  even  resigned.  We  mourn  no  more  that  we  have 
so  little,  can  do  so  little.  We  enter  into  a  deep 
and  settled  reconciliation  with  our  surroundings,  and 
so  life  becomes  at  last  harmonious,  and  strong,  and 
precious.  So  precious,  as  we  think  of  the  past  and 
the  future,  that  the  prayer  is  last  on  our  lips  as  we 
fall  asleep,  first  in  our  thoughts  as  we  awake  with  God 
— In  the  midst  of  the  years  make  known.  "  Christ, 
gather  up  my  life's  poor  hoard  !  " 


In  Agony  and  Loneliness. 

OUR  hope,  our  only  hope  from  first  to  last,  is  in 
the  retentiveness  of  the  divine  love — in 
Christ's  resolute  hold.  "  We  will  come  unto  him 
and  make  our  abode  with  him,"  is  a  promise  great 
enough  to  meet  the  last  extremity  of  our  need,  to 
encounter  the  most  formidable  enmity  of  circumstances. 
Our  Lord  has  not  forgotten  how,  as  He  moved  towards 
the  Father,  He  had  at  last  to  leave  behind  Him  all 
human  companionship.  "  Sit  ye  here  while  I  go 
and  pray  yonder."  It  may  come  to  each  of  us  to  have 
at  last  to  "  pray  yonder."  And  that  is  the  ultimate 
experience  of  life.  Thence  we  may  come  back  to  the 
world  and  to  our  task,  assured  that  we  are  safe,  knowing 
that  it  is  towards  Christ  that  our  deepest  thought  and 
will  and  love  have  been  tending  all  the  while. 


PRAYER  85 

Prayer  and  its  Answer. 

OW  shall  we  pass  from  these  nights  into  morn- 


H 


ings  ?  By  prayer.  The  humble  and  lonely 
and  feeble  supplication,  in  which  we  seem  to  speak  to 
iron  and  unreplying  heavens — that  prayer  will  speed. 
The  answer  may  come  late,  but  it  may  come.  It 
may  come  to  the  soldier  wounded,  bleeding,  and 
dying  ;  but,  when  it  comes,  his  peace  will  be  like  a 
river  and  his  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea. 

By  abiding  under  the  Cross  and  entering  into  the 
fellowship  of  the  Saviour's  sufferings.  It  is  as  we  hear 
the  pleadings  and  the  groanings  of  the  eternal  High 
Priest  that  we  are  delivered  and  made  conformable 
to  His  death. 

By  working  and  waiting.  "  Play  the  man,"  was 
the  word  that  came  to  a  sorely  tried  spirit.  It  is  as 
we  persevere  without  illumination  in  the  discharge  of 
duty  that  we  gradually  discover  how,  in  spite  of  all 
we  have  lost  for  the  time,  a  deep  support  remains. 
While  working  and  waiting,  we  are  to  watch  for  the 
light  which  is  surely  coming,  for  the  fulfilment  of  that 
which  is  written,  "  While  quiet  silence  contained  all 
things,  and  the  night  was  in  the  midway  of  her  course, 
Thy  omnipotent  Word  sallied  out  of  heaven  from  the 
royal  seats." 

In  the  School  of  Christ. 

STUDY  and  prayer  must  go  on  together.      Many 
pray  who  are  content  with  the  teaching  they 
have  received,  and  never  seek  to  enlarge  or  deepen  it. 


86  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

Many  study  in  absolute  neglect  of  the  means  by  which 
alone  Christian  knowledge  can  burst  in  upon  the  soul. 
Both  are  ignorant  that  the  Holy  Spirit  teaches  now  and 
immediately  every  loyal,  prayerful  student  in  the 
school  of  Christ. 


"  Pray  without  Ceasing" 

WE  complain  of  the  decline  in  candidates  for  the 
ministry,  and  remedies  are  suggested.  But  I 
have  not  seen  it  stated  that  Christ  faced  the  same 
difficulty,  and  met  it  in  His  own  way.  Said  He, 
"  The  harvest  truly  is  plenteous,  but  the  labourers  are 
few."  There  is  a  decline  of  candidates  for  the 
ministry.  What  then  ?  "  Pray  ye,  therefore,  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest  that  He  will  send  forth  labourers 
into  His  harvest."  What  would  be  thought  if  you 
had  a  week  of  prayer-meetings  to  plead  with  God  on 
this  subject  ?  Would  anyone  attend  ?  More  than 
you  think  would  attend.  More  will  be  done  in  that 
way  than  by  giving  better  salaries  and  better  education. 
But  prayer  is  no  easy  thing  j  prevailing  prayer.  We 
must  waken  the  Lord.  For  this  He  will  be  inquired 
of.  He  says,  "  Awake,  awake,  put  on  strength,  O 
arm  of  the  Lord  ;  awake  as  in  the  ancient  days."  Nor 
will  He  awake  at  once.  He  will  refuse  till  we  ask 
Him  more  earnestly.  He  says,  "  Let  me  go,"  that 
we  may  answer,  "  I  will  not  let  Thee  go  except 
Thou  bless  me."  He  says,  "  It  is  not  meet  to  take 
the  children's  bread  and  cast  it  to  dogs,"  that  we  may 


PRAYER  87 

reply,  "  Truth,  Lord  ;   yet  the  dogs  eat  of  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  their  master's  table." 

"  Oh  !  how  strangely  Thou  eludest 

Those,  dear  Lord,  that  have  believed  ! 
Yet,  eluding,  ne'er  deludest, 

Nor  deceiv'st,  nor  art  deceived  !  " 

We  must  waken  God  before  we  waken  the  dim 
sunken  masses.  What  Savonarola  cried  in  the  crisis 
of  his  Church  I  would  repeat,  "  Wake  Christ  !  Wake 
Christ  !  " 


Lumsden  of  Aberdeen. 

T  TE  studied  his  students  closely,  and  delighted  to 
-*•  -••  mark  and  elicit  any  sign  of  promise  in  them. 
He  would  occasionally,  but  rarely,  show  his  pleasure 
by  signs  of  affection,  but  we  came  to  understand  him 
best  by  his  prayers.  I  have  never  heard  any  prayers 
which  moved  me  so  much,  never  any  so  full  of  fervour, 
of  humility,  of  reverence.  You  saw  then  that,  what 
the  man  taught,  he  believed  humbly,  passionately, 
completely.  What  a  joy  and  strength  it  would  be 
to  hear  him  pray  again  ! 

Books  to  be  Written. 

T  DO  not  know  in  the  English  language  a  single 
-*•  great  or  complete  book  on  prayer,  a  book  dealing 
frankly  with  the  teaching  of  Scripture.  Nor  do  I 
know  any  work  in  which  the  significance  of  forgive- 
ness is  at  all  adequately  discussed. 


88  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

The  Shield  of  Prayer. 

TO  keep  the  Fair  Deposit,  to  bring  the  precious 
treasure  to  Jerusalem,  means  hard  fighting, 
constant  watching.  The  power  of  evil  is  always 
eminent  in  the  midst  of  us.  Against  it  religion  finds 
that  all  her  efforts  have  to  be  kept  in  perpetual  strain. 
There  is  the  tyranny  of  the  visible,  and  there  is  the 
slowness  of  our  hearts  to  believe  in  the  unseen. 

Though  it  is  true  that  the  world  passeth  away, 
and  the  lust  thereof,  while  they  that  do  the  will  of 
God  abide  for  ever,  yet  it  is  the  world  that  seems  often 
real  and  stable,  and  the  saints  before  the  Throne 
invisible  or  dim. 

We  hope  we  are  wrong,  but  it  seems  to  us  that  many 
Christians  imagine  that  they  can  keep  the  faith  of 
childhood  while  neglecting  those  opportunities  of 
converse  with  God  that  must  be  used,  if  the  spiritual 
life  is  not  to  wither  away. 

No  really  great  theologian,  no  really  great  believer, 
has  ever  lived,  to  whom  prayer  was  not  infinitely 
more  important  than  any  mere  exercise  of  the  intellect. 

Pray  Once  More. 

I  SHOULD  like,  for  my  part,  to  see  great  public 
meetings  of  Free  Churchmen  held,  not  for  the 
purpose  of  passing  resolutions,  but  of  offering  prayer. 
I  do  not  understand  why  any  prayer-meeting  should 
cease  or  die  so  long  as  there  are  two  or  three  to  join 
in  pleading.  It  is  to  two  or  three  that  the  promise 


PRAYER  89 

is  given.  But  it  is  our  own  particular  and  individual 
duty  that  we  must  think  of,  and  so  I  say,  give  Him 
no  rest.  You  seek  conversions  in  your  own  classes, 
in  your  meetings,  in  your  visitations — give  Him  no 
rest.  Plead  the  needs  of  souls,  plead  your  own 
helplessness,  plead  your  own  misery,  plead  your  own 
defeat,  plead  the  Precious  Blood,  plead  the  Five  Wounds, 
which  are  the  fortresses  of  our  love,  plead  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  j  give  Him  no  rest. 


Christ's  Prayer  for  us. 

"IY/T  ANY  of  us  had  once  those  who  prayed  for  us, 
-*•*-*•  who  remembered  us  before  the  Throne. 
What  a  joy  and  strength  it  was  to  know  it  !  But 
perhaps  those  who  prayed  for  you  have  been  long 
since  gathered  to  their  rest.  Perhaps  you  are  not 
sure  that  anyone  in  all  the  world  prays  now  for  you 
by  name.  But,  blessed  be  God,  the  great  Intercessor 
never  pauses.  One  sweet,  clear,  prevailing  voice  is 
heard  before  the  Throne,  and  when  we  do  not  pray 
for  ourselves,  and  when  no  fellow-being  prays  for  us, 
Christ  does  not  forget  to  pray. 


HYMNS 

"  Always,  on  taking  up  a  new  hymnal,  I   look  first   to   see 
whether  the  hymn  '  Rock  of  Ages '  is  included  or  not." 

A  Glorious  Beginning. 

"  Little  travellers  Zionward, 
Each  one  entering  into  rest." 

The  two  stanzas  seem  to  me  to  make  the  finest 
opening  of  a  child's  hymn  in  existence. 


Scott's  Hymn. 

A  CORRESPONDENT  of  The  Scotsman  put  the 
•^  *•  reasonable  question  why  Sir  Walter  Scott's 
"  When  Israel,  of  the  Lord  beloved  "  was  not  in- 
cluded in  the  Scottish  Hymnal,  whereto  A.  K.  H.  B., 
who,  it  seems,  was  the  editor  of  that  work,  replied  with 
adorable  frankness  that  the  lines  were  not  up  to  the 
mark  of  the  Scottish  Hymnal,  being  lumbering  and 
ungraceful.  There  has  been  nothing  equal  to  this 
since  the  editor  of  a  Greenock  newspaper  declined 
Campbell's  "  On  Linden  when  the  sun  was  low." 
The  story  goes  that  he  inserted  in  his  notices  to  corre- 
spondents something  like  this  :  "  T.  C.  Your  lines 
'  On  Linden  when  the  sun  was  low '  are  not  up  to 
our  mark.  Try  again." 

90 


HYMNS  91 

Most  readers  of  poetry  will  place  these  lines  of  Scott 
among  their  three  favourite  pieces  of  that  author. 
For  companions  I  name  : 

"  There  is  mist  on  the  mountain  and  night  on  the  brae, 
But  the  clan  has  a  name  that  is  nameless  by  day, 
Then  gather,  gather,  gather  Glengarach  ;  " 

and  the  wonderful  lines  : 

"  Yet  the  lark's  shrill  fife  may  come 

At  the  daybreak  from  the  fallow  : 
And  the  bittern  sound  his  drum, 
Booming  from  the  sedgy  shallow." 


Music. 

FOR  passion  I  turn  to  Paxton  Hood's  little  hymn- 
book,  and  read  the  exquisite  lines  : 

"  How  sweet  the  child  rests, 
Whom  nothing  molests, 
Received  in  mercy  among  the  Lamb's  guests  !  " 

Are  there  more  musical  words  than  these  in  our 
English  tongue  ?  I  do  not  forget  the  Laureate's 
favourite  among  his  own  numbers  : 

"  By  the  long  wash  of  Australasian  seas." 

or  Thomson's  consummate  : 

"  And  Mecca  saddens  at  the  long  delay." 


Dr.  Horatius  Bonar. 

i 

f  I  VHE  literary  productions  he  thought  least  of  were 

-*•        by  far  the  most  popular.     These  hymns  were 

ushered   into  the   world   in   the  most   unpretending 


92  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

manner.  Some  of  them  were  printed  as  leaflets,  to 
be  sung  by  the  Sunday-school  scholars  in  Kelso  ; 
others  were  used  to  fill  up  vacant  spaces  in  The  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Prophecy.  He  wrote  some  of  the  best- 
known  in  railway  carriages,  and  some  when  sitting 
for  a  brief  rest  by  the  fireside  after  a  day's  work.  They 
have  gone  round  the  world,  have  been  sung  in  churches 
of  all  communions,  have  been  learned  by  little  children, 
and  hung  as  lights  over  the  thickly  closing  waters  of 
death. 

ii 

EVEN  the  brightness  of  his  verses  has  something 
sombre  in  it,  like  the  red  flashing  of  a  November 
sky.  In  a  world  where  death  and  change  will  not 
suffer  us  to  love  in  peace,  and  where  the  most  faithful 
workers  often  sow  in  tears,  such  strains  will  always  be 
caught  up  hungrily. 


SAINTS 

"  Many,  alas  !   have  never  known  a  saint,  save  through  books. 

"  But  in  truth  the  saints  are  still  to  be  found  ;  and  found  often 
in  the  lowest  spheres.  The  man  is  to  be  deeply  pitied  who  has 
never  known  a  great  saint." 


Paul. 

I 

TO  the  eye  of  the  world  his  career  ended  in 
desertion,  failure,  collapse.  But  as  the  old 
man  was  led  along  the  Ostian  Way  to  die,  his  mother 
Jerusalem  bent  over  him  with  rapturous  welcome.  He 
saw  those  who  had  gone  before,  the  martyrs  in  their 
robes  of  crimson  and  the  saints  in  white.  Life  behind 
him  was  like  a  far-off  storm  at  sea.  He  was  filled 
with  a  sense  of  everlasting  triumph  as  he  neared  the 
high  world  he  had  longed  to  dwell  in,  that  world 
whose  air  was  home.  The  city  of  God  is  glad,  and 
her  gladness  transfigured  him.  He  saw  the  earthly 
vanish  and  himself  entering  into  the  fellowship 
whereof  all  the  love  we  know  is  but  a  trembling 
shadow,  that  city  where  all  we  love  is  restored.  To 
the  eye  of  sense,  his  career  ended  as  forlornly  and 
lovelessly  as  might  be.  To  the  eye  of  faith,  his  death 
was  the  rising  of  his  mother,  to  take  her  wearied  child 
to  her  breast. 

93 


94  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

ii 

'  I  VHAT  this  grand  and  passionate  nature  should 
-*•  be  turned  into  a  loving,  working,  quiet  power  ; 
that  through  the  years  he  did  not  yield  to  dismay  or 
bitterness  ;  was  not  tempted  by  base  compliances  ; 
was  not  elated  by  passing  victories  ;  that,  having  done 
all,  he  stood — such  was  the  triumph  of  St.  Paul.  It 
is  the  triumph  of  all  saints.  We  glory  most  not 
in  their  brilliant  and  victorious  hours,  but  in  their 
steadfast  perseverance  through  light  and  shadow  to  the 
end.  Remembering  that,  we  bless  God  "  for  their 
faith,  their  hope,  their  labour,  their  truth,  their 
blood,  their  zeal,  their  diligence,  their  tears,  their 
purity,  their  beauty." 


Duty  without  Pride. 

WE  may  surely  adapt  words  used  long  ago  of 
another,  to  General  Gordon.  He  was  one 
who  lived  his  life,  who  passed  through  sorrow  without 
bitterness,  who  did  his  duty  without  pride,  who 
hoped  without  conceit  of  favour,  who  heard  the  voice 
of  God  saying,  "  This  is  the  way."  But  the  saints 
do  not  need  our  compliments. 


Wesley  and  Bonar. 

MAY  we  not  come  to  be  above  law,  above  plans, 
and  above  rules,  and  bring  forth  fruit  naturally 
and    unconsciously    and    in    due    season  ?     In    other 


SAINTS  95 

words,  may  we  not  cease  from  our  own  works,  as 
God  did  from  His,  and  as  Christ  did  from  His,  when 
He  fell  asleep  on  the  cross  ? 

I  think  that  there  is  much  in  the  recorded  experience 
of  believers  which  encourages  this  hope.  Was  it  not 
true  of  John  Wesley  that  for  many  years  he  abode 
in  this  Sabbath  of  the  Son  ?  As  I  read  his  Journals^ 
and  especially  the  later  volumes,  I  seem  to  see  that 
he  was  not  any  longer  a  worker,  but  simply  a  fruit- 
bearer.  From  all  his  many  journeys  he  carried  and 
wore  the  white  rose  of  rest.  Nothing  irked  him, 
nothing  disturbed  him  ;  he  was  at  peace.  Even  here 
he  had  entered  the  Sabbath  Rest  that  remaineth  for 
the  people  of  God.  And  I  may  venture  to  say  that 
Dr.  Andrew  Bonar,  both  in  his  life  and  in  his  printed 
words,  left  on  my  mind  the  same  impression.  He 
was  dead  to  the  solicitations,  and  even  to  the  weariness, 
of  the  flesh.  He  had  ceased  from  his  own  works, 
and  men  gazed  on  him  and  marvelled  at  the  fruit- 
bearing  Tree  of  God. 


Dr.  Pusey. 

TTTHAT  remains  to  us,  and  it  is  much,  is  the 
memory  of  a  saint.  When  the  wood,  hay^ 
and  stubble  are  burned  up,  sainthood  and  the  super- 
natural truth  and  grace  which  alone  could  produce 
it  or  account  for  it  will  survive.  Much  has  been 
said  of  the  imperfect  literary  form  of  Dr.  Pusey's 
work — too  much,  for  is  it  so  certain  that  literary 
form  is  necessary  to  immortality  ?  But  reading  with 


96  THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

his  eyes,  we  always  see  Eternity  looking  through 
Time.  This  will  keep  his  comments  on  Holy 
Scripture  alive  when  the  work  of  far  better  critics 
and  scholars  is  forgotten.  There  was  such  an  ardour 
for  goodness,  for  pity,  for  self-sacrifice  in  Dr.  Pusey 
that  every  just  and  humble  soul  must  see  in  him 
"  one  of  those  to  whom,  under  ruder  or  purer  form, 
the  Divine  Idea  of  the  Universe  is  pleased  to  manifest 
itself ;  and  shine  through  ...  in  unspeakable  Awful- 
ness,  unspeakable  Beauty,  in  their  souls  ;  who  therefore 
are  rightly  accounted  Prophets." 

In  Our  Street. 

f  I  VHE  sweet  odours  of  their  life  may  lie  quiet  and 
-*•  still  till,  on  some  day  of  storm,  the  flower- 
bells  in  God's  garden  are  shaken  and  their  fragrance 
flows  forth.  Then  is  known  the  faith  that  can  live 
through  any  trial  and  be  brave  through  any  death. 
Sometimes  in  a  little  hamlet,  sometimes  in  a  great 
city,  some  dear  head  is  laid  in  the  dust,  and  all  the 
people  gather  round,  weeping.  Sometimes  there  are 
only  one  or  two  to  mourn,  but  these  know  that  the 
aspect  of  life  and  death  has  been  changed  for  them, 
and  that  the  personal  presence  of  Christ  with  a  soul 
is  no  delusion,  no  dream. 

The  Beloved  Son. 

WHO  of  the  saints  delighted  in  the  law  of  the 
Lord  as  did  the  Saint  of  Saints  ?     It  was  of 
Him  alone  that  it  could  be  said  that  He  was  utterly 


SAINTS  97 

obedient.  Moment  by  moment,  day  and  night.  His 
soul  stood  by  its  arms.  He  slept,  but  His  heart 
wakened.  He  looked  into  the  Old  Testament  and 
saw  His  own  image,  as  the  stars  might  see  theirs  in  a 
glassy  lake. 

The  Saints'  Witness. 

TTTHEN  the  saints  speak,  they  always  say  that  the 
hiding-place  of  their  life  is  Christ.  They 
will  tell  you  that  they  knew  Christ  on  the  cross  as 
their  sacrifice  ;  that  they  knew  Him  next  as  their 
loving  Friend  ;  that,  last  of  all,  they  knew  the  mystery 
of  union  with  Him. 


The  Religion  of  Redemption. 

/CHRISTIANITY    begins  with   the  regeneration 
of  the   individual,   and    has   no   belief  in  any 
regeneration  of  society  apart  from  that. 

Christianity  is  either  a  religion  of  redemption  or 
a  dead  and  powerless  nothing. 


SIN  AND  SALVATION 

"  A  democracy  without  religion  is  the  most  awful  vision  of  the 
future.  Nothing  can  save  such  a  society  from  perishing  in  a 
Lake  of  Fire." 

"  Men  know  God  irrevocably,  if  they  know  Him  at  all,  in  the 
Cross  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  common  people  still  hear  gladly  one 
Voice,  only,  .  .  .  the  Voice  that  was  softly  lifted  up  in  Palestine 
eighteen  hundred  years  ago." 

i.  THE  ATONEMENT 
Explaining  and  Understanding. 

THE  desire  to  explain  the  Atonement  may  go  too 
far.     All  help  is  welcome,  but  the  fact  itself 
is  much  more  easily  understood  than  many  explanations 
of  it.     Its  "  Onlyness  "  is  the  main  thing. 


The  Full  Oblation. 

WE  admit  that  some  who  are  puzzled  as  to  certain 
intellectual  aspects  of  the  Atonement  do 
nevertheless  receive  it,  and  that  the  evangelical  love 
for  Christ  burns  on  almost  unchecked  at  the  centre 
of  their  thought.  But  it  is  the  grasp  of  the  full 
oblation,  sacrifice,  and  substitution  on  the  cross, 
which  creates  that  intense  and  personal  love  for  the 
Redeemer  which  is  the  essence  and  the  core  of  faith. 

98 


SIN  AND  SALVATION  99 

His  Atoning  Death. 

TT7HENEVER  the  heart  is  most  kindled  it  is  by 
the  thought  of  the  well  of  God  dug  by  the 
soldiers'  spear,  of  the  cross,  the  sponge,  the  vinegar, 
the  nails,  of  the  red  wine  of  love  that  flowed  when  He 
trod  the  winepress  alone,  and  of  the  people  there  was 
none  with  Him  ;  of  the  sweet  and  dreadful  cry,  "  Eli, 
Eli,  lama  sabachthani  ?  " 

He  was  slain,  and  we  slew  Him.  We  can  never 
make  it  up.  The  thorns  of  the  thorn-crowned  head 
pierced  the  heart,  the  fever  of  His  death  wakes  the 
fever  of  our  passion,  till  all  the  loves  that  once  strayed 
abroad  gather  to  a  burning  centre,  and  the  fountain  of 
our  affections  has  but  one  channel,  and  that  is  He. 

The  Mystery  of  Redemption. 

THE  offering  of  the  Lord  Jesus  will  be  compre- 
hended by  the  saints  more  fully  as  the  years 
advance.     Since  the  awful  day  on  which  He  died,  it 
has  opened  before  each  generation  new  abysses  of 
significance. 

The  One  Thing  Needful. 

RELIGIOUS    teachers    may    say    they    do    not 
understand  the  Atonement ;  but  their  hearers 
understand  it  well  enough,  and  give  God  thanks. 

Preachers  may  speak  of  aspirings  and  followings 
after  the  ideal,  while  they  keep  a  vow  of  more  than 
Trappist  severity  of  spiritual  silence  towards  the  Son 
of  God  ;  but  their  hearers  will  not  surrender  the 


ioo          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

present  love  of  Christ,  the  one  abiding  good  that  has 
come  to  them  through  the  frustrated  and  broken  years. 

Two  Vast  Words. 

A     DEEP  religion  concerns  itself  mainly  with  the 
•**•     two  vast  words  "  Sin  and  Grace." 


2.  THE   BURDEN  OF  SIN 
Free  Grace. 

MORE  and  more,  as  life  unfolds  itself  to  you, 
you  will  know  that  your  primary  need  is  to 
be  loosed  from  your  sins,  loosed  from  the  past  sins 
which  follow  you,  trouble  you,  haunt  you,  wear  you 
out,  loosed  from  the  nature  that  ever  bends  you 
towards  sin,  which  finds  temptations  so  fierce,  so 
irresistible.  This  is  what  the  Supreme  Love  has  done 
for  as  many  as  have  received  Him.  He  loved  us  and 
loosed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  Blood,  and  made 
us  kings  and  priests  unto  God. 

So  it  comes  to  pass  that  the  characteristic  word  of 
Christianity  is  "  grace,"  as  the  characteristic  word  of 
Buddhism  is  "  Karma."  Grace  is  the  bending  love 
and  the  stooping  pity  which  looses  us  from  our  past, 
which  delivers  us  from  our  burden  and  our  weakness. 

"  We  Wrestled 

NO  conviction  is  burned  more  deeply  into  the 
inner  heart  of  the  world  than  this,  that  sin  is 
not  done  with  us  when  we  have  done  with  sin.     There 


SIN  AND  SALVATION  101 

are  men  and  women  by  the  hundred  thousand  who 
would  gladly  give  all  they  possess  if  they  could  but 
lay  their  hands  upon  one  hour  of  madness,  and  pluck 
it  from  the  past.  :  • : 


The  Dark  Soul. 

/CHRISTIANITY,  of  all  religions,  is  the  only  one 
^•^  which  has  a  message  to  the  man  who  has  become 
a  beast.  It  speaks  to  him  and  sets  before  him  the 
loftiest  ideal,  as  not  too  high  for  his  striving.  Once 
the  window  is  opened  in  the  dark  soul,  through  which 
God  is  seen  in  Christ,  a  beginning  is  made  which  ends 
in  coronation. 

Christianity  transforms  the  root  of  the  soul,  blots 
out  past  transgression,  and  briiigs  to  bear  the  fostering 
powers  of  the  world  to  come,  in  hastening  the  con- 
summate flower. 

Christ  our  Ransom  and  Recall. 

TT7RITERS  like  Dr.  Harnack  and  Dr.  Davidson 
do  not  recognise  the  sense  of  guilt.  They 
speak  as  if  we  had  no  relation  to  our  past.  But  in  the 
deep  heart  of  man  the  sense  of  guilt  is  permanent,  not 
destroyed  by  time,  or  culture,  or  the  enlargement  of 
vision,  or  even  by  the  apparent  deadness  and  oppression 
of  the  spiritual  nature.  "  It  has  us,  and  not  we  it 
It  pursues  us  flying,  and  holds  us  rebelling."  It  is 
in  Christ,  our  Ransom  and  Recall,  that  the  soul  finds 
all  it  craves  for  :  pardon,  rest,  power.  How  wonderful 


102          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

it  is  to  pass  from  the  chill  and  darkness  of  this  story 
of  a  dying  faith  to  the  magical  sun-soaked  air  of  the 
New  Testament  ! 


The  Call.        .        , 

THE  "injunction  of  the  Gospel  is  not  Love,  nor  even 
Pray  5  it  is  Repent  and  Believe. 

3.  COMING  TO   CHRIST 
Here  and  Now. 

PLEASE  God,"  said  an  old  Irishwoman  in  New 
•*•  York,  "  we'll  have  easy  times  when  Tillden's 
elected."  This  is  how  we  speak.  When  some  party 
comes  into  power,  when  some  new  legislation  is 
enacted,  when  some  tangled  problem  is  solved,  there 
will  be  for  us  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth.  But 
now  is  the  day  of  salvation.  Here,  at  this  moment, 
any  soul  looking  to  Christ,  and  trusting  in  Christ,  may 
receive  the  Bread  that  God  the  Father  has  sealed, 
and  be  satisfied.  Every  soul  may  take  that  peace 
which  the  world  cannot  give  and  cannot  take  away. 

The  Glory  to  be  Revealed. 

TRUST  Him.     Try  Him.     To  those  who  keep 
away  from  Him  He  is  like  the  stained  windows 
of  a  great  cathedral  seen  from  the  outside.     There  is 
no  beauty  to  be  discerned  or  desired.     But  come  into 
the  cathedral,  and  lift  up  your  eyes  and  witness  all 


SIN  AND  SALVATION          103 

around  you  the  miracle  and  splendour  of  fire.  You 
know  the  glory  which  the  passer-by  can  never  conceive. 
This  knowledge,  I  believe,  has  been  granted  to  very 
many  among  you,  and  it  is  a  knowledge  that  will 
grow,  just  in  proportion  as  you  use  it. 


How  Differently  ! 

TS  not  the  coming  of  the  soul  to  Christ  a  meeting 
-*•  of  souls  P  The  sinful  soul  rises  j  the  sinless 
descends.  Thus  does  the  Son  of  Man  become  the 
Saviour.  And  is  it  not  by  a  movement  of  faith  that 
we  enter  the  Door  ?  Faith,  we  have  sometimes 
thought,  is  the  door-latch  ;  and  how  many  have 
believed,  and  how  differently  they  have  believed,  and 
how  sweetly  they  have  entered  into  rest  ! 


Friend  of  Friends. 

PERHAPS  the  day  of  days  in  life  is  when  we 
discover  the  Unseen  Friend  at  our  side  on  the 
way  to  Jerusalem.     Some  of  us  are  much  clearer  on 
that  day  than  on  the  day  of  our  conversion. 


Taking  Refuge. 

"OUNYAN  tells  us  how  the  conviction  possessed 
•*-*  him,  "  I  must  go  to  Jesus."  It  is  this  going  to 
Jesus  which  is  the  beginning  of  salvation. 


io4          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

4.  KEPT  IN  THE  FAITH 
Redeemed  and  Restored. 

*  I  VHE  apostles  never,  so  far  as  we  can  remember, 
-*•        try  to  deepen  the  sense  of  indwelling  corrup- 
tion in  their  converts.     They  never  once  fasten  on 
them  names  of  humiliation. 

Even  when  they  sin,  the  way  to  recovery  is  to 
remember  that  their  roots  have  pierced  through  to  the 
living  water,  that  their  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 
Our  danger  is  rather  that  we  shrink  faithlessly  from 
the  language  which  it  becomes  the  redeemed  of  the 
Lord  to  use,  and  which  they  can  only  use  as  they  are 
clothed  in  the  robe  of  His  righteousness,  and  looking 
to  His  cross.  For  in  looking  to  the  cross,  we  do  not 
lose  sight  of  our  sin.  It  is  graven  there.  But  if  we 
look  at  our  sins  we  may  lose  sight  of  Christ,  for  His 
image  is  not  in  them.  "  It  is  not  in  our  own  wounds," 
says  Vinet,  "  but  in  the  wounds  of  Jesus  that  we  must 
put  our  hands." 

Christian  Example. 

*  I  VHE  great  token  and  witness  of  Christ  on  earth 
-••  is  the  life  kindled  by  Him  in  the  beginning 
and  burning  on  steadily  to  the  end.  Perhaps  none  of 
us  know  what  such  lives  have  been  and  are  to  us  ; 
how  our  faith  and  hope  hang  on  them.  They  always 
burn  on  the  altar  of  Christ's  death,  and  may  we  not 
say  on  an  altar  of  their  own  self-sacrifice  ?  The 
innocent  secret  kept  simply  and  bravely  through  the 


SIN  AND   SALVATION  105 

years  often  comes  out  at  death.  It  turns  out  that  the 
life  silently  and  cheerfully  embraced,  the  work  pur- 
sued with  unfailing  zest  and  courage,  were  the  last 
that  Nature  would  have  chosen.  But  they  were 
joyfully  accepted  as  from  Christ,  and  on  the  altar  the 
fire  burned  brighter  and  brighter. 


The  Victorious  Christian. 

IT  is  good  to  die  to  the  world,  good  to  have  the 
fierce  fires  of  pride  subdued,  good  to  cease  from 
all  secular  ambition  ;  but  only  if  there  is  a  resurrection 
from  death  to  life,  and  if  the  Holy  Spirit  fills  us  when 
we  rise  again.  By  tribulation  our  life  is  healed  of  its 
rebellion  ;  but  that  is  not  enough.  The  goal  is  to 
be  able  to  say  with  St.  Paul,  "  None  of  these  things 
move  me,  neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself." 
The  fear  that  once  turned  one's  heart  into  a  handful 
of  dust  is  gone  ;  but  that  is  not  enough.  We  must 
be  able  to  say — and  perhaps  this  is  the  last  word  that 
can  be  said — "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ.  Neverthe- 
less, I  live.  Yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  The 
mind  of  Christ  has  taken  possession  so  utterly  that  it 
is  hardly  possible  to  distinguish  between  it  and  the 
nature  and  operations  of  what  we  used  to  call  our  own 
minds.  Then  comes  the  uplift  of  the  soul,  its  abode 
in  the  second  rest,  its  zeal,  its  self-forgetfulness,  its 
conscious  life  in  God,  its  peace  like  a  river,  its  right- 
eousness like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  Yet  of  those  who 
have  attained  that  stillness,  it  may  be  said  that  though 
now  they  be  quiet,  they  have  done  business  in  great 


io6          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

waters,  "  seen  the  white  teeth  of  the  storm  furies 
and  sailed  through  the  very  throat  of  death." 


Saved  by  Grace. 

/^\FTEN,  when  men  taunt  us  with  the  charge 
^-J  that  our  lives  have  been  failures,  that  our 
efforts  have  come  to  nothing,  we  may  feel  that  we  have 
not  much  to  say.  Indeed,  it  often  seems  as  if  it  were 
so.  We  have  hardly  gathered  one  rose  from  the 
wilderness — one  token  of  the  coming  joy  and  bloom. 
But,  after  all,  the  true  evidence  of  success  is  inward, 
not  outward.  It  is  written  on  the  deepest  part  of 
the  soul  by  the  ringer  of  God.  It  is  like  the  seal  of 
the  Spirit  set  on  these  dim,  infirm,  half-blinded  natures, 
— the  pledge  that  they  shall  be  conformed  at  last  to 
the  image  of  the  Son. 

The  Power  of  the  Spirit. 

TN  many  of  us  faith  is  very  dim,  though  not  quite 
quenched.  Something  has  been  kept,  but  it  is 
very  little  5  enough  for  bare  existence,  not  enough  for 
happiness  or  for  power.  It  may  be  nearly  lost  alto- 
gether, in  the  study  of  grammars  and  dictionaries  and 
books  of  criticism,  in  the  bitter  discussion  of  ecclesi- 
astical affairs,  even  in  much  serving  and  skilful  organis- 
ing. What  right  have  we  to  think  we  can  keep  it, 
if  we  do  not  live  in  communion  with  God,  His  Word, 
and  His  saints  ?  What  right  have  we  to  think  that 
we  can  keep  it,  if  the  heart  is  suffered  to  become  a 


SIN  AND  SALVATION          107 

high  road,  trampled  by  the  cares  of  this  life,  by  the 
ambitions  of  time,  by  the  passion  for  intellectual 
distinction  ?  The  saddest  thing  in  all  the  world  is 
to  see  the  young  men,  who  once  were  all  aflame  for 
God,  faint  and  grow  weary,  perchance  utterly  fall. 
Of  how  many  it  has  to  be  said  in  these  days  that  they 
once  burned  and  shone,  and,  in  the  end,  grew  cold  J 
But  through  the  Holy  Ghost  it  is  possible  to  keep  the 
faith,  to  end  in  more  than  the  passion  of  youth,  to  die 
testifying,  and  not,  as  Voltaire  reports  of  Cavalier, 
"  much  failed  of  his  first  enthusiasm." 


"  With  a  Full  Heart^  silently." 

/TAO  trust  Christ  is  not  merely  to  believe  with  the 
-*-        intellect  the  truth  about  Him,  but  to  commit 
our  hearts  to  His  keeping. 


MYSTICS  AND   MYSTICISM 

The  Mystic  Teaming  * 

"Now  I  hear  it  not,  but  loiter 
Gaily  as  before. 

Yet  sometimes  I  think,  and  thinking 
Makes  the  heart  so  sore — 
Just  a  few  steps  more 
And  there  might  have  dawned  for  me 
Blue  and  infinite,  the  sea." 

Powerful  through  Detachment. 

T  T  7"E  have  heard  much  of  late  about  the  practical 
mystic,  and  the  mystic  is  great  and  powerful 
in  practical  affairs  for  various  reasons,  and  not  least 
for  this,  that  he  never  stakes  his  all. 

The  Mystic. 

T  TE  believes  intensely  that  more  and  more  light 
-*•  •*•  is  ever  breaking  from  the  Word.  He  believes 
that  it  should  never  be  opened  save  by  hands  that 
tremble  with  reverence.  He  receives  it  into  his  arms 
as  the  aged  Simeon  received  the  Holy  Child.  He 
goes  on  to  study  it  wistfully,  hopefully,  till  death,  or 
the  Lamb  of  God  loses  the  seals  of  the  Book. 

The  Second  Sense. 

T  N  the  view  of  the  mystic,  great  divine  words  are 

-*•       not  the  prize  of  the  toiling  intellect  of  mortality  ; 

they  are  the  gift  of  the  Eternal  Love.     What  concerns 

*  Favourite  lines. 

108 


MYSTICS   AND  MYSTICISM       109 

him  is  not  what  the  human  authors  who  were  the 
organs  of  the  revelation  more  or  less  dimly  conceive 
to  be  its  meaning.  He  goes  behind  all  that  to  the 
intention  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  the  reader  may 
find  more  truly  than  the  original  writer.  This  idea 
is  most  familiar  in  the  literature  of  mysticism.  Thus 
St.  Martin  came  to  see  that  there  were  greater  depths 
in  his  Ecce  Homo  than  he  was  aware  of  until  he 
was  acquainted  with  the  writings  of  Jacob  Boehme. 
The  author  of  John  Inglesant,  a  good  mystic  of  the 
second  order,  read  a  sermon  preached  on  the  meaning 
of  one  of  his  minor  books.  He  wrote  to  the  preacher 
that  his  meaning  was  different ;  but  he  afterwards 
wrote  that  he  now  saw  that  the  preacher's  meaning 
was  the  true  meaning.  All  mystics  believe  that  beyond 
the  obvious  sense  of  the  Scripture  there  is  often  a  second 
sense. 


Mystical  Holy  Church. 

FT  is  one  of  the  chief  alleviations  of  the  sorrow  of 
-1  earthly  disunion  that  we  may  ever  and  anon 
come  to  the  surprised  and  joyful  consciousness  that 
the  brother  who  is  bearing  another  name  and  is 
fighting  in  another  army  is,  in  reality,  at  one  with  us 
in  the  Mystical  Holy  Church.  Those  who  seem 
spectral  and  far  off,  if  not  positively  alien  and  hostile, 
are  discerned  as  the  true  brothers  of  our  hearts.  Where- 
fore it  is  the  wont  of  mystics  to  claim  this  friendship, 
and  to  exact  recognition  "  in  all  houses,  temples,  and 
tarrying  places  of  the  fraternity."  In  the  fellowship 


no          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

of  the  Holy  Assembly  is  peace.  There  we  escape  the 
boundless  weariness  of  the  spirit  of  the  world.  There 
we  may  win  and  wear  that  Rose,  which  is  the  symbol 
of  the  joy  of  the  two  Jerusalems. 


An  Authority. 

TT7"HAT  was  the  use  of  talking  about  mysticism 
to  a  man  who,  in  almost  the  first  thing  he 
published,  had  discussed  the  relations  between  Clement 
and  Dionysius  and  the  French  Quietists  ?  Dr.  Dods 
was  familiar  with  the  doctrines  of  Ammonius  Saccas, 
and  could  lay  his  finger  on  the  weaknesses  of  Kingsley, 
and  mark  the  limits  of  R.  A.  Vaughan.  How  did  he 
come  to  be  so  wise  ?  By  the  long  labours  of  a  life- 
time. The  late  High  Master  of  St.  Paul's  School 
used  to  say,  "  Give  four  hours  a  day  to  any  subject, 
and  you  will  find  by  the  time  you  are  getting  to  forty 
that  you  are  the  chief  authority  on  it." 


A  Book  to  Cherish. 


M 


ISS  UNDERHILL  has  given  us,  on  the  whole, 
the  best  English  work  on  Mysticism. 


Charles  H.  Spurgeon. 

READ  him  when  he  enters  the  spiritual  region, 
and  you  feel  that  you  are  with  one  of  the  great 
mystics  of  the  world. 


MYSTICS  AND  MYSTICISM      in 

Breathless  Realities. 

THE  Bible  is  not  anywhere  to  us  what  it  was 
twenty  years  ago.  Passages  we  then  passed 
over  as  meaningless  now  take  hold  of  us  as  with 
living  hands.  One  may  doubt  whether  the  highest 
spiritual  truth  will  ever  go  into  words.  The  most 
poetical  region  of  all,  says  a  living  mystic,  is  that 
which  is  incapable  of  taking  the  form  of  poetry.  The 
realities  take  away  the  breath  that  would,  if  it  could, 
give  them  forth  in  song.  Some  things  are  impossible 
to  utter,  and  other  things  it  is  unlawful  to  utter.  Over 
such  truths  the  spirit  wanders,  brooding,  till  it  be- 
comes vocal,  and  that  is  the  utterance  we  have 
from  mystics. 


Mystic  Faith. 

TV/TANY  humble  believers,  nourished  with  the 
•*•  -"•  sincere  milk  of  the  Word,  mighty  in  the 
Scriptures,  have  been  unconsciously  great  theologians, 
though  often  so  hard  pressed  that  they  could  only  say, 
in  the  words  over  the  grave  of  Heinrich  Jung  Stilling 
at  Carlsruhe  :  "  Lord,  Thou  knowest  all  things, 
Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee." 


The  Scottish  Mystic. 

fT  is  not  so  difficult  to  define  mysticism  in  Scotland. 
-*•     The  Christian  mystic  is  "  far  ben." 


ii2          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

A  Sign  of  the  My  site. 

"j^/TOTHING  is  more  strange  and  affecting,  and  yet 
**  ^  nothing  is  more  true,  than  that  those  who  take 
the  most  vehement  part  in  the  conflicts  of  this  world 
and  the  keenest  interest  in  its  affairs  are  nevertheless 
detached  from  it.  They  are  all  the  while  sons  of  the 
high  mother  city  which  is  free.  It  is  this  which 
makes  them  magnanimous,  patient,  resolute  ;  it  is 
this  which  makes  them  willing  to  leave  the  struggle 
before  victory  is  proclaimed,  and  even  when  it  seems 
as  if  the  infantry  of  trust  were  being  repulsed.  They 
have  achieved  a  great  liberty.  While  they  live  they 
dwell  with  God  ;  when  they  die  they  depart  in 
peace,  because  their  eyes  have  seen  His  salvation. 

Prayers  Perpetual  Made  and  Answered. 

IT  is  by  the  strengthening  of  the  bond  with  God, 
and  by  earnest  supplication,  that  the  den  of  thieves 
within  us  is  at  last  changed  into  the  house  of  prayer. 
When  that  is  done,  the  mystic,  by  the  fact  of  his  con- 
viction, is  sure  of  his  life  entering  more  and  more 
into  the  world  where  petition  is  ever  fulfilling  itself. 
Answers  to  prayer  startd  continually  round  him,  and 
that  much  more  closely  than  the  hills  around  Jerusalem. 

One  in  Christ. 

A  MONG  the  few  precious  scraps  which  Dr. 
•**•  Parker  kept  in  his  great  Bible  was  a  cheque 
from  Father  Stanton  in  aid  of  one  of  his  City  Temple 


MYSTICS  AND  MYSTICISM      113 

missions.  Dr.  Parker  had  paid  the  money  and  kept 
the  cheque  as  a  precious  treasure.  When  Dr.  Parker 
was  dying,  his  mind  turned  to  his  friend,  and  he  said, 
"  Father  Stanton  is  praying  for  me."  We  have  no 
desire  to  attenuate  in  any  manner  the  grave  and 
serious  differences  which  separated  the  school  of  the 
one  preacher  from  the  school  of  the  other,  and  yet 
who  that  knew  them  both  can  fail  to  say  with  a  joyous 
confidence  that  they  were  one  in  Christ  Jesus  ? 

An  Achievement. 

FEW  things  give  me  more  satisfaction  than  the 
reflection  that  I  got  Martensen's  book  on  Jacob 
Boehme  translated  for  English  readers. 

Andrew  Jukes. 

WE  have  seen  a  two-line  paragraph  announcing 
the  death  of  the  Rev.  Andrew  Jukes,  in  the 
eighty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  It  came  as  a  surprise  to 
us,  for  we  thought  that  Mr.  Jukes  had  passed  from 
earth  and  time  long  ago.  Indeed,  he  never  seemed 
much  to  belong  to  them,  and  all  we  know  of  his  out- 
ward career  is  that  for  a  long  time  he  preached  to  a 
congregation  in  Hull.  His  writings,  however,  survive 
him,  and  they  will  live,  for  they  are  the  work  of  a 
true  and  original  mystic  and  a  deep  student  of  Holy 
Scripture.  There  are  signs  that  the  higher  criticism 
itself  is  beginning  to  discern  that  there  are  other  modes 
of  approach  to  the  Bible  than  the  critical  mode  ;  that 
Christian  criticism  itself,  followed  out  wisely,  justifies 


ii4          THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE 

much  which  in  the  past  it  condemned.  Mr.  Jukes 
was  nothing  of  a  critic.  He  was  a  student  and  a 
believer,  but  his  books  on  the  Pentateuch,  on  the 
Gospels,  and  on  the  Restitution  of  All  Things ,  whether 
their  conclusions  be  accepted  or  not,  will  remain  a 
possession  of  the  Church,  for  the  writer  was  a  seer. 
He  did  not  think  it  needful  to  march  round  the 
tabernacle  guarding  it  from  foes.  It  was  a  good 
work,  but  not  his  work.  Nor  did  he  remain  between 
the  porch  and  the  altar  seeking  wistfully  for  a  gleam  of 
the  hidden  glory.  He  was  of  those  who  had  found 
an  entrance  into  the  holiest  of  all. 

The  Author  of  "  Robert  Falconer." 

THERE  is  no  difficulty  in  discovering  our  author's 
spiritual  whereabouts.     He  is  a  mystic  in  the 
fullest  sense.     He  apprehends  God  in  Christ  by  direct 
vision,  and  thereafter  his  longing  is  not  to  grasp  and 
possess,  but  more  and  more  to  be  grasped  and  possessed. 

The  Pure  of  Heart. 

AFTER  all,  one  thing,  and  only  one,  is  needful. 
How  have  you  been  led  in  life  ?  Who  are 
the  people  who  have  most  profoundly  influenced  you  ? 
For  whom  has  your  reverence  been  deepest,  most 
bending  ?  They  have  not  been,  I  venture  to  say, 
the  clever,  the  brilliant,  the  accomplished.  They 
have  been  the  wise — wise  with  a  wisdom  that  cometh 
only  from  the  Lord,  and  only  to  the  children  of  the 
kingdom.  It  is  they  who  are  always  right,  who 


MYSTICS  AND  MYSTICISM      115 

always  seem  to  know  what  we  should  do,  who  enter 
the  sheepfold  by  the  door,  while  others  climb  up  their 
own  way.  They  do  not  reach  their  end  through 
long  and  toilsome  reasonings.  They  have  the  power 
of  strange,  straight  vision,  which  sees  right  through 
all  mystery  and  bewilderment  to  truth  as  it  really  is. 
They  are  children  to  the  last,  whether  they  be  old  or 
young. 


THE  HAPPY  POSTURE 

"  Accept  the  will  of  God,  and  all  the  bitterness  goes." 

On  Acceptance. 

IN  every  profession  there  are  comparatively  few  whose 
early  dreams  come  to  fulfilment.  The  vast 
majority  have  to  content  themselves  with  humble 
aims,  slow  advancement,  an  uninteresting  career, 
and  a  nameless  memory.  We  can  bear  but  little 
success,  and  little  is  given  to  us,  and  the  day  comes 
but  too  early  when  we  know  that  the  ascent  of  life 
has  ceased,  and  that  henceforth  we  must  decrease. 

Such  defeat,  if  trustfully  accepted,  brings  its  own 
peace.  There  is  an  end  of  the  long,  lonely  misgivings, 
of  the  ambition  which  has  drawn  such  hard  breath 
under  the  weight  of  self-distrust.  If  we  will  but 
cease  !  Few  things  are  more  tragical  and  forlorn  than 
attempts  made  to  recall  the  irrevocable — to  pretend 
to  a  youth  that  is  past — to  make  vain  appeals  against 
an  irreversible  judgment.  It  is  well  to  struggle  on 
while  hope  remains.  But  let  us  be  wise  as  we  grow 
older,  and  accept  the  award. 

"  Thy  mil  be  Done." 

HE  did  not  merely  accept  the  will  of  God  when 
it  was  brought  to  Him  and  laid  upon  Him. 
Rather  He  went  out  to  meet  that  loving  will,  and  fell 
upon  its  neck  and  kissed  it. 

116 


THE  HAPPY  POSTURE         117 

Power  in  Ourselves 

NOT  in  surroundings,  but  in  ourselves,  is  the 
true  power  over  nature  to  be  found.  By  faith 
we  understand  that  to  those  in  union  with  the  will  of 
God  sorrow  and  frustration  may  be  but  other  names 
for  joy  and  triumph.  So  we  say,  "  If  the  Lord  will, 
we  shall  live  and  do  this  or  that,"  not  as  shirkers,  not 
as  fearful,  not  as  unbelieving,  but  as  those  who  are 
safe,  as  those  who  know  that  all  things  are  well  if 
they  put  us  on  the  way  to  God.  .  .  .  Let  us  ask  God 
so  to  order  the  great  and  manifold  and  terrible  changes 
of  life,  that  they  may  bring  us  nearer  to  Him  and  to 
Home. 

Full  of  Faith. 

*  I  VHERE  is  peace  of  God  which  passeth  under- 
-*•  standing.  There  is  none  that  may  not 
know  it — that  strange  buoyancy,  that  inexplicable 
tranquillity,  that  daring  hope  ;  in  the  midst  of  anguish, 
tumult  and  wreck.  It  comes  to  those  who  gaze  on 
the  amazing  continent  of  things  unseen — who  are 
the  children  of  God  by  faith. 


Ill,  PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 


THE  CHURCH 

"  Men  return  again  and  again  to  the  few  who  have  mastered 
the  spiritual  secret,  whose  life  has  been  hid  with  Christ  in  God. 
These  are  of  the  same  religion." 

i.  INVISIBLE 
Pilgrims  of  Eternity. 

IT  is  our  happiness,  in  this  land,  to  begin  our  journey 
to  God  in  the  name  of  Christ,  to  start  from  the 
prayers  of  childhood  ;  but  there  are  pilgrims  of 
eternity  whose  start  is  more  distant  from  the  goal, 
and  they  care  for  their  souls,  and  their  souls  are 
cared  for,  though  they  do  not  name  the  Name  that  is 
above  every  name. 

On  Roman  Catholics. 

THAT  true  believers,  who  have  no  other  means 
of  instruction  than  those  afforded  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  are  to  be  found  in  that  communion, 
can  be  denied  only  by  the  most  crazy  bigots,  and 
wherever  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  are,  there  is  the  Spirit, 
and  wherever  the  Spirit  is,  there  is  still  the  Church. 

The  Noble  and  Perplexed. 

TEACHING  that  will  influence  men  now  must 
be  open-eyed,  and  brave,  ready  to  modify  what 
should  be  modified,  and  surrender  what  should  be 

121 


122     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

surrendered.  But  it  must  be  the  teaching  in  which 
the  heart  of  the  Church  of  Christ  pours  itself  out. 
"  When  Thou  tookest  upon  Thee  to  deliver  man 
Thou  didst  not  abhor  the  Virgin's  womb.  When 
Thou  hadst  overcome  the  sharpness  of  death  Thou 
didst  open  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to  all  believers. 
Thou  sittest  at  the  right  hand  of  God  in  the  glory 
of  the  Father.  We  believe  that  Thou  shalt  come  to 
be  our  Judge.  We  therefore  pray  Thee  help  Thy 
servants  whom  Thou  hast  redeemed  with  Thy 
precious  blood."  We  do  not  forget  that  there  may 
be  some  cases  in  which  there  is  perplexity  as  to  words 
when  there  is  no  wandering  of  the  heart,  and  that 
noble  spirits  who  could  not  express  themselves  so,  have 
been  not  far  from  the  kingdom  of  God,  nay,  rather 
in  its  deepest  bosom. 


2.  VISIBLE 
The  Only  Dread 

OUR  only  fear  for  Nonconformity  in  this  country 
is  that  it  may  gradually  lose  its  hold  on  the 
supernatural,  clinging  at  first  to  fragments,  and  then 
rejecting  these. 

Its  Charm  and  Glory. 

XTONCONFORMITY  is  a  perpetual  discipline 
-^  ^  of  faith  in  the  supernatural.  This  to  many  of 
us  is  its  chief  charm, 


THE  CHURCH  123 

Honoured  Already. 

MOST  certainly  no  one  can  confer  any  honour 
on  Nonconformity. 

The  Child  In  the  Pew. 

IT  is  the  thoughts  of  childhood  that  are  the  long, 
long  thoughts,  and    it  is  in  the  sanctuary,  and 
only  in  the  sanctuary,  that  they  can  fully  learn  the 
message  of  the  Eternal  Love. 

Broken  Up. 

ONE  often  wonders  why  the  Broad  Church  has 
perished    in    England,    and    why    the    High 
Churchmen    have    prospered    so    exceedingly.     The 
Broad  Church  perished  simply  because  it  ceased  to  be 
a  Church. 

Foes. 

THE  worst  enemies  of  the  old  Evangelicalism  are 
those  who  do  not  argue,  but  rebuke,  denounce, 
calumniate,  who  identify  the  essential  with  the  non- 
essential,  who  cherish  the  spirit  of  hate  and  vengeance. 
Christ  and  His  Gospel  are  not  served  in  this  fashion. 
All  the  windows  of  the  redeemed  soul  must  be  kept 
open  to  every  breath  that  blows  from  heaven. 

The  Best  Way. 

I  SHOULD  wish  Disestablishment  to  come  not  as 
a  triumph  of  one  church  or  part  over  another. 
I  should  like  that  we  should  understand  each  other 
better,  and  ripen  towards  a  mutual  agreement. 


i24      PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

The  Unity  of  the  Churchyard. 

THE  enthusiasm  of  many  good  men  for  amal- 
gamating all  our  denominations,  Methodists, 
Baptists,  Presbyterians,  Episcopalians  and  the  rest, 
puzzles  me.  The  day  will  come  when  a  truly  catholic 
creed  will  be  wrought  out,  and  then  will  the  true  unity 
of  life  be  achieved.  But  if  convictions  are  laid  aside 
for  the  sake  of  union,  we  have  not  the  unity  of  the 
Church,  but  the  unity  of  the  churchyard. 

On  Counting  Souls. 

THE  revival  of  interest  in  missions  is  an  object 
on  which  many  Christian  hearts  are  most 
lawfully  set.  But  let  no  one  fancy  that  the  Church 
will  be  lashed  into  missionary  zeal  by  statistics.  Calcu- 
lations go  a  very  small  way  in  the  kingdom  of  grace, 
and  even  if  evangelical  arithmeticians  knew  more 
than  they  do,  hearts  are  not  set  on  fire  by  figures. 

Impracticable  Men. 

TT  7" HAT  would  become  of  the  churches  if  it 
were  not  for  impracticable  men  ?  They 
are  actually  saved  by  such.  Men  who  cannot  be 
"  managed  "  or  got  round,  who  insist  on  speaking 
when  the  prudent  fathers  pray  for  silence,  who  fear 
no  abuse  and  covet  no  preferment,  who  conceive 
deep  purposes,  and,  at  the  risk  of  overturning  the 
official  coach,  carry  them  through  to  the  end.  They 
appear  in  organisations  when  corruption  is  nearing 


THE  CHURCH  125 

the  core,  and  the  death-rot  is  at  hand,  to  apply  the 
healing  knife. 

Church  Union. 

TRUE  union  between  the  churches  can  only 
come  from  fresh  discoveries  of  the  way  and 
power  of  faith.  The  churches  must  be  fellow- 
students  of  the  divine  relation,  and  while  they  are, 
there  should  be  between  them  the  most  perfect  and 
cordial  charity.  As  preventing  this,  Establishment  is 
a  great  evil,  and  must  be  removed  before  any  effective 
step  towards  union  can  be  taken,  partly  because  its 
existence  prevents  the  Free  Churches  from  frankly 
and  properly  discussing  and  settling  their  own  problems, 
partly  because  the  church  established  is  hindered  by 
privilege  from  taking  a  sisterly  part  in  the  common 
counsel-taking. 

The  Churches  of  the  Poor. 

IT  may  be  doubted  whether  the  poorer  classes  will 
ever  be  won  by  ordinary  church  methods.  The 
great  successes  among  the  poor  are  in  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  mission-halls  and  in  Baptist  Tabernacles. 
The  poor  attend  a  hall  much  more  readily  than  a 
Gothic  church.  They  will  not  come  where  seats 
are  not  free.  They  prefer  a  great  building  to  a  small 
building.  They  love  a  bright,  hearty  service,  but  in 
the  end  they  will  not  long  go  anywhere  unless  the 
preaching  is  strong,  sympathetic,  and  Christian.  The 
churches  may  very  well  consider  if  it  is  worth  while, 


126     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

except  in  well-to-do  neighbourhoods,  to  build  churches 
and  chapels  of  small  size.  Among  the  poor  the  work 
will  not  be  done  in  this  way. 

Shadow  and  Light. 

THE  internal  strife  in  the  Church  increases. 
Not  only  is  there  the  battle  that  must  be  with 
us  till  it  is  decided  ;  but  Churchmen  fight  with  Church- 
men ;  Nonconformists  with  Nonconformists.  The 
wisdom  and  beauty  of  tolerance  are  recognised  less 
and  less,  and  while  the  awful  shadow  lies  on  all  the 
churches,  their  energies  are  mostly  consumed  in  waging 
civil  war.  Yet  the  Church  of  Christ  is  one,  and 
will  yet  be  aware  of  its  unity.  Meanwhile  we  come 
to  wrong  conclusions  about  each  other  ;  we  utterly 
misconstrue  and  lose  one  another. 

Little  Chapels. 

NOTHING  puzzles  us  more  than  the  agony  with 
which  the  maintenance  of  little  churches  is 
regarded  by  many  religious  minds.  You  will  never 
hear  a  testimony  against  the  waste  that  goes  on  in 
other  directions.  The  luxury  of  the  rich — who  has 
anything  to  say  about  that  ?  The  extravagance  and 
meanness  of  many  professing  Christians — who  ventures 
to  denounce  them  ?  But  that  there  should  be  two 
chapels  in  a  place  where  one  might  suffice  seems  to 
wring  the  very  heart  of  reunionists.  Is  the  evil 
done  so  terrible  ?  What  harm  have  those  chapels 
done  ?  Is  the  presence  of  another  Gospel  minister 


THE  CHURCH  127 

in  a  little  community  so  unmitigated  and  black  a  curse  ? 
May  it  not  be  that  the  vindication  of  many  labourers 
in  such  places  will  come  through  Christ  Himself, 
on  Whom  they  have  wrought  a  good  work  ? 

The  Dissenter's  Heritage. 

IN  literature,  in  politics,  in  every  field,  we  occupy 
a  greater  and  greater  place.  Have  you  con- 
sidered that  all  the  recent  pictures  of  religious  life 
which  have  carried  the  country  by  storm  are  pictures 
of  Dissent  ?  Have  you  considered  that  among  the 
younger  leaders  in  literature  nearly  all  the  most 
prominent  are  more  or  less  closely  allied  with  us  ? 
Those  who  think  that  our  political  influence  has 
diminished,  should  look  back  to  the  day  when  there 
was  in  Parliament  but  one  representative  of  Dissent. 
Our  business  is  to  claim  our  heritage  boldly,  hopefully, 
with  ceaseless  energy  and  unflinching  resolution,  to 
claim  it  in  the  spirit  of  those  who  have  believed  the 
assurance,  "  All  things  are  yours,"  and  to  whom  in 
poverty,  and  obscurity,  and  limitation  have  been  given 
Paul  and  Apollos  and  Cephas,  and  life  and  death,  and 
the  present  and  future,  and  Christ  and  God. 

Charles  Stanford  :  a  Great  Dissenter. 

TT  7"  AS  there  a  more  truly  heroic  life  than  this  ? 
Take  the  most  sensitive  of  natures,  house 
it  in  the  most  delicate  of  frames.  Fill  it  with  a 
passion  (of  all  things)  for  the  Dissenting  ministry. 
Multiply  trials  at  home  till  everything  but  love  is  out 


iz8     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

at  the  window,  while  the  student  pursues  his  task  ; 
empty  his  pocket  till  he  resolves  to  give  all  up,  and 
gets  respite  only  by  a  five-pound  note  sent  by  some 
friend  the  next  morning.  Sharpen  the  wits  by  poverty 
till  one  glove  (the  second  is  the  property  of  another 
student)  is  carried  "  most  effectively  "  in  the  slender 
hand.  When  the  studies  are  completed,  send  the 
young  man  to  a  little  fractious  dying  church,  and  let 
him  be  tormented,  till  he  says  of  his  trials,  "  The  saw 
may  be  useful  for  the  wood,  but  not  for  me."  Put 
him  in  another  church  where  he  has  some  experience 
of  litigation,  and  is  sent  out  "  in  the  ignoble  capacity 
of  a  beggar."  Let  the  wife  of  his  youth  fade  before 
his  eyes  in  her  very  springtide.  Visit  him  with  pain 
till  he  rocks  himself  to  and  fro  in  his  pulpit,  struggling 
with  neuralgia.  Transport  him  to  London  in  due 
time,  and  see  that  he  goes  as  a  colleague.  Let  sharper 
pain  assail  him  ;  angina  pectoris  through  long  years, 
during  which  he  "  rallies  from  death-like  faintnesses," 
and  is  "  familiar  with  the  sensation  of  dying."  And 
if  all  this  is  not  enough,  visit  him  with  blindness  ; 
take  his  beloved  books  away.  Is  the  spirit  broken 
now  ?  Nay,  in  all  these  things  he  is  more  than 
conqueror  ;  unsubduable  and  sweet  ;  preaching,  and 
busy  with  his  own  typewriter  on  new  books  ;  toiling 
up  the  hill  through  the  snowy  winds.  Verily  in  his 
case  the  words  of  Thomas  Lynch  were  fulfilled  : 
"  the  good  fight  was  fought  to  music." 

When  Dissent  is  no  more — when  its  sweetness  and 
its  bitterness  are  things  of  the  past — someone  will 
perchance  be  raised  up  fit  to  write  its  history.  We 


THE  CHURCH  129 

Can  wish  him  nothing  better  than  a  double  portion  of 
the  spirit  of  Charles  Stanford.  He  knew  what  it 
was  to  be  pricked  by  its  ten  thousand  nettles  ;  his 
unclothed  spirit  felt  the  stings  as  hardly  any  other 
could.  He  knew  how  men  live  for  their  chapel 
and  die  for  it  ;  for  that  was  his  own  experience.  The 
"  cause  "  was  his  thought  by  day,  his  dream  by  night, 
the  theme  of  his  last  incoherent  words  at  death. 

The  Salvation  Army. 

IT  is  a  strange  and  sinister  sign  of  the  times  that 
many  people  have  encouraged  General  Booth 
who  hold  him  in  the  utmost  contempt,  who  hate  his 
methods,  who  class  his  theology  lower  than  that  of 
Mohammedans  and  Buddhists,  who  would  not 
willingly  touch  him  or  any  of  his  army  with  their 
little  finger.  They  hope  that  he  will  make  their 
thrones  and  thronelets  somewhat  firmer.  They  are 
willing  to  give  him  a  trifle  if  he  will  master  and  tame 
the  forces  they  dread.  Well,  it  is  no  new  thing. 
History  tells  us  how  wealth,  in  its  hour  of  danger,  has 
enlisted  and  exalted  the  priest,  has  made  haste  to 
shuffle  on  the  cloak  of  hypocrisy.  But  no  man  can 
in  any  degree  contribute  to  the  salvation  of  society 
who  does  not  purify  himself.  The  gift  is  nothing 
without  the  giver. 

3.   ITS  WORK   AND   FAITH 

T  THINK  young  men  and  women  in  the  Christian 
-*•  Church  are  beginning  to  seek  not  the  great 
places,  not  the  easy  places,  not  the  coveted  places, 


i3o     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

but  the  places  where  they  most  firmly  tread  in  the 
footsteps  of  their  Master.  It  will  be  a  proof  that 
the  secret  seeds  of  fire  are  still  burning  in  the  heart 
of  the  Church  if  this  indeed  be  so. 


Frost. 

*  I  VHERE  is  a  point — and  it  is  not  difficult  to 
•••        recognise  it — when  the  service  ceases  to  be 
worship.     It  is  not  any  longer  impressed  with  a  touch 
of  eternity. 

The  mil  to  Believe. 

A  SSUREDLY  the  Church  is  too  ready  to  find 
T  ^  heroism  only  in  the  past.  There  is  a  dis- 
position to  question  whether  there  be  faith  enough 
on  the  earth  to  achieve  the  great  tasks  of  cleansing 
and  adjustment  which  lie  straight  before  us.  But  if 
there  is  no  human  goodness,  there  is  no  divine  love, 
and  we  cannot  cease  to  trust  men  and  women  without 
ceasing  to  trust  God. 

If  we  drive  reverence  and  love  to  a  distance  we 
shall  miss  the  inspiration  by  which  the  kingdom  of 
God  advances.  The  golden  year  itself  can  only  come 
to  those  who  have  learned  to  know  it. 

The  Rose  of  Christ 

NOTHING    in    St.    Paul's    conception    of  the 
wonderful  Church  of  Christ  is  more  startling 
than  his  undoubting  faith  in  the  work  she  was  to  do, 


THE  CHURCH  131 

and  in  the  tender,  unslumbering  love  that  would  for 
ever  guard  her.  Even  now,  after  some  two  thousand 
years  of  Christian  history,  we  hardly  dare  to  take  such 
assurances  in  all  their  splendour.  Is  the  Church  the 
Body  of  Christ — the  Fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all 
in  all  ?  Does  the  Lord  indeed  nourish  and  cherish 
the  Church — watch  her  every  moment  ;  lest  any 
hurt  her,  keep  her  night  and  day  ?  To  this  hour  the 
Church  is  among  us  as  one  that  is  wounded,  and  when 
St.  Paul  wrote  she  was  outwardly  weak,  obscure, 
distracted,  untutored.  Yet  to  him  she  was  beautiful 
as  the  Rose  of  Christ,  though  buried  under  the  snow. 

Saints  and  Heroes. 

TT  7" HEN  all  the  nondescript  bands  that  are  seeking 
— and  many  of  them  seeking  with  a  true 
nobility  of  spirit — the  redemption  of  the  world,  are 
scattered,  dead,  and  forgotten,  the  ransomed  Church 
of  Christ  will  live  to  meet  Him,  when  the  Last 
Advent  shines  from  east  to  west,  and  the  fire  is  kindled 
that  will  try  every  man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is.  After 
all,  the  Church  of  God  is  not  a  new  thing  in  the 
world.  We  have  the  record  of  its  heroes  and  its 
saints,  and  we  know  that  many  of  them,  trusting  in 
the  Cross,  have  lived  and  laboured  through  the  long- 
tried  day,  and  have  been  filled  at  the  last  with  an 
eminent  calm,  and  an  inexpressible  hope  and  courage. 
And  yet  when  all  was  over,  all  that  they  had  to  say 
was,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive  a  sinner,  a  poor  sinner 
still,  yea,  the  chief  of  sinners."  So  have  dear  lips 


132     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

spoken  that  were  never  to  speak  any  more  till  the 
Resurrection  Day. 

Christian  Love  and  Suffering. 

f  i  NHERE  is  on  earth  the  vividness  of  first  love,  the 
•*•  fervour  of  early  passion,  and  this  finds  its  like- 
ness in  the  Christian's  love  for  Christ.  But  there  is 
on  earth  a  love  nobler  than  that,  a  love  that  glows 
with  a  great,  steady  ardour,  with  a  still,  intense, 
vehement  flame,  and  that  is  the  Christian  ideal.  This 
is  the  love  that  labours  when  all  labour  without  it 
would  be  hard  and  heavy.  This  is  the  love  that  fights 
when  all  seems  dead  against  it.  This  is  the  love  that 
lifts  up  its  spear  against  ten  thousand,  and  turns  the 
strength  of  the  foemen  at  the  gates.  This  is  the  love 
that  welcomes  suffering  for  the  beloved's  sake.  Sacri- 
fice is  continually  changing  its  form,  but  it  is  always 
present  in  the  life  of  the  Christian.  Where  it  is  most 
present,  there  is  love  warmest  and  kindest.  When 
Ignatius  was  led  to  his  martyrdom,  and  thought  of  the 
nearness  of  his  death  and  pain,  he  said,  "  Now  I  begin 
to  be  a  Christian."  Well  has  it  been  said  that  wherever 
the  Church  goes  the  thick  smoke  of  her  suffering 
ascends  to  Heaven.  "  We  are  always  delivered  to 
death  for  Jesus'  sake." 

At  Long  Last. 

AT  evening  time  there  shall  be  light.     Our  direct 
concern  for  the  Church  of  Christ  will  soon 
end,  and  it  will  end  in  light  and  peace.     Now,  said 


THE  CHURCH  133 

the  Apostle,  is  our  salvation  nearer  than  when  we  first 
believed.  St.  Paul  sailed  over  a  rough  sea,  knowing 
little  of  blue  sky  or  calm  water.  But  he  knew  that 
he  and  his  were  not  drifting  before  the  tempest.  Their 
vessel  was  directed.  The  unseen  Captain  was  on 
board  ;  the  close  would  be  in  the  haven  so  long 
desired,  and  every  day  that  haven  was  nearer,  every 
day  some  part  of  the  rough  way  had  been  accom- 
plished for  ever.  Come  what  might,  certain  victories 
had  been  won  and  were  secure,  and  the  end  was  not 
to  be  a  wreck  on  an  unknown  coast.  God  has  a  safe 
harbour  for  His  troubled  people,  and  while  the  waves 
toss,  we  travel.  We  must  somehow  possess  our  past 
and  our  future  in  this  way.  We  are  on  a  voyage  the 
days  of  which  are  numbered,  the  days  of  which  are 
growing  fewer.  There  will  be  light  at  evening-time 
whatever  may  befall  us  in  the  day. 

"  If  my  barque  sink,  'tis  to  another  sea." 
And,  when  we  reach  the  shore,  we  shall  look  back  and 
recall  our  voyage — its  storms,  its  sunshine,  but  above 
all,  its  Captain  ;   recall 

"  The  terrible,  shamefast,  frightened,  whispered,  sweet, 
Heart-shattering  secret  of  His  way  with  us." 

The  Deeper  Secret. 

TO  one  brought  face  to  face  with  life,  the  preaching 
of  Socialism  and  material  comfort  seems  very 
idle.  The  human  heart  asks  as  passionately  as  ever 
after  a  deeper  secret.  The  Church  can  disclose  it 
if  she  will  but  rise  from  her  sleep  with  the  New 
Testament  in  her  hands. 


i34     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

The  Deep  Church. 

THE  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  even  the  deep 
things  of  God.  They  are  revealed  by  the 
same  Spirit,  through  His  inward  discipline  of  the  soul. 
You  learn  them  in  the  depths  of  bitterness  and  deser- 
tion, when  your  only  psalm  is  De  profundis  clamavi, 
and  your  only  confession,  "  All  Thy  waves  and  Thy 
billows  are  gone  over  me."  Or  you  learn  them  when 
you  have  sunk  into  some  horrible  iniquity,  and  discover 
there,  underneath  the  very  depths  of  Satan,  un- 
fathomable depths  of  grace.  The  New  Testament 
hardly  appeals  to  a  superficial  experience.  It  stands 
strangely  aloof  from  "  the  shallow  heavens  and  the 
shallow  hells  of  the  feebly  good  and  the  feebly  wicked." 
But  it  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  redeeming 
passion  of  One  who  is  at  home  in  our  uttermost 
human  exultations  and  agonies.  Among  all  His 
mighty  sayings,  perhaps  none  pierces  deeper  than 
this  :  "  Her  sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven,  for 
she  loved  much." 

Sometimes  we  grow  weary  of  the  threadbare  titles 
which  are  supposed  to  distinguish  different  schools  of 
Christian  thought.  People  chatter  idly  about  the 
High  Church  and  the  Broad  Church  and  the  Low 
Church.  Mr.  R.  H.  Hutton  wrote  a  memorable 
essay  upon  what  he  called  the  Hard  Church.  The 
type  of  experience  and  character  which  we  most  need 
to-day  might  be  described  as  the  Deep  Church.  It  is 
the  fellowship  of  disciples  whose  hearts  are  enlarged 
to  apprehend  the  deep  things  of  God. 


THE  CHURCH  135 


4.   METHODISTS 

"  I  have  used  every  opportunity  that  has  ever  come  in  my  way 
of  getting  to  know  the  people  called  Methodists." 

The  Inspired. 

IT  is  precisely  the  sayings  of  the  early  Methodists 
that  were  most  challenged  by  their  critics, 
that  established  their  share  in  the  experiences  of 
saintly  spirits,  in  the  awful  history  and  mystery  of 
redeemed  souls.  It  is  not  a  narrow  literalism  that 
can  read  such  words  as  these  :  "  At  London  I  met  the 
wild,  staring,  loving  society."  "  The  saints  of  God 
never  suffer."  '*  All  love  is  returned." 


Their  Strength  and  Passion. 

IT   is   in  proportion   as  the  Primitive  Methodists 
retain  their  passion  for  the  conversion  of  souls 
that  they  will  live  and  grow  in  England  and  in  the 
world.       So  long  as  the  grand  old  hymns  are  sung 
from  the  heart  : 

"  The  voice  of  free  grace  cries,  Escape  to  the  mountain, 
For  Adam's  lost  race  He  has  opened  a  fountain," 

and 

"  Stop,  poor  sinner,  stop  and  think, 
Before  you  further  go," 

so  long  will  the  heritage  so  hardly  won  by  the  founders 
be  kept  and  extended  by  their  children. 


136     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

John  Wesley. 

THERE  was  and  there  is  something  in  the  vitality 
of  Methodism  which  is  mysterious.  Wesley 
was  no  ordinary  fanatic,  for  his  brain  was  strong, 
and  his  judgment  calm.  Yet  there  was  that  in  the 
man  which  cut  through  like  a  flaming  sword,  and  he 
remains  greater  than  any  book  that  has  been  written 
about  him.  As  for  the  true  signs  and  wonders 
wrought  by  him  when  he  preached — they  may  be 
wrought  again. 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS 

"  The  preacher  can  do  no  greater  thing  for  us  than  to  make  life 
grow  more  beautiful  as  it  grows  more  severe.  Faith  is  never 
grander  than  when  it  strengthens,  as  experience  becomes  harder 
and  more  grave.  The  endurance  of  personal  trial  gives  a  preacher 
power.  If  he  can  say,  '  Is  any  man  weak  ?  I  am  weak  also, 
and  weary  and  footsore  like  you,'  he  has  the  key  of  men's  hearts." 


i.  IN  QUIET  PLACES 
On  Accepting  Destiny. 

TT7HAT  shall  we  say  to  the  "  buried  alive  "  ? 
*  *  This  :  you  need  not  die  in  your  graves. 
If  a  minister  feels  himself  unsuited  to  his  position  he 
should  do  what  an  honourable  man  may  to  escape 
from  it.  This  is  a  duty  to  his  people  as  much  as  to 
himself.  But  we  are  thinking  rather  of  those  who  are 
providentially  hemmed  in,  who  see  that  it  is  the  will 
of  Christ  that  they  should  labour  where  they  are  till 
the  end.  That  should  bring  serenity  and  keep  away 
death.  If  the  work  is  accepted  as  from  Him  it  is 
magnified.  To  the  sentinel,  says  the  poet,  the  hour 
is  regal  when  he  mounts  on  guard,  and  that  plot 
given  over  by  the  Master  to  the  tiller's  care  should 
be  engrossing  and  sacred  for  him.  Let  the  mind  be 
busy  and  the  heart  be  busy,  and  over  the  familiar  land- 
scape of  which  the  preacher  has  been  so  weary,  over 
the  little  cottages  he  has  so  often  entered  in  vain,  over 


138     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

the  weather-beaten  and  unresponsive  countenances 
which  have  so  stolidly  faced  him,  comes  a  radiance 
from  One  by  his  side. 


Better  Men  than  You. 

9  I  VHE  hero  of  the  most  beautiful  dedication  in 
-*•  literature — "  To  my  dear  and  much  admired 
Isaac  Williams,  the  sight  of  whom  carried  back  his 
friends  to  ancient,  holy,  and  happy  times,"  never  got 
beyond  a  curacy. 


The  Thing  that's  Nearest. 

TT7HEN  we  are  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  the 
complexities  and  perplexities  through  which 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  travelling,  let  us  address  our- 
selves to  our  own  little  village,  our  own  remote  parish, 
if  such  be  our  place  of  work,  and  attend  to  that.  For 
ourselves,  we  are  not  going  to  rest  quiet  while  four 
children  at  least  out  of  every  five  educated  in  our 
Sunday-school  are  lost  to  the  Church  and  pass  away 
unheeded  into  the  world.  The  fact  should  burn  into 
every  Christian  soul. 

A  Corner  of  the  Vineyard. 

T  DO  believe  that  the  remedy  for  the  ever-growing 
-*•  pressure  of  the  world  is  a  limitation  of  effort  to 
some  definite  purpose.  I  believe  that  the  best  work  in 
the  Kingdom  will  now  be  done  by  men  who  devote 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          139 

their  main  energy  to  making  safe  and  sweet  and 
blessed  their  own  corner  of  the  vineyard.  I  believe 
that  the  expenditure  of  force  over  many  fields  tends 
to  impotence  and  to  paralysis,  and  that  the  day  has 
come  when  Christian  ministers  must  choose  their 
own  sphere  of  activity  in  thought  and  action,  and 
abide  therein  with  God. 

His  Own  Kingdom. 

VER  yet  was  the  religious  work  of  any  city 
or  any  place  done  except  by  the  men  labour- 
ing there.  Great  impulses  have  been  given  by 
visiting  ministers  and  by  evangelists,  but  if  those  who 
have  taken  up  a  ministry  in  a  place  do  not  adequately 
discharge  it,  nothing  will  arrest  the  decay  of  the 
Church. 

Rewards. 

DO  not  labour  for  success  or  happiness.  Concern 
yourself  only  with  your  duty,  and  the  happiness 
will  come.  There  is  the  success  that  is  followed  after 
and  the  success  that  overtakes.  The  success  that 
overtakes  comes  to  men  often  in  the  poor  grey  room 
where  they  sit  too  busy  to  think  of  anything  but 
their  work,  and  shines  on  them  as  an  angel.  I  will 
not  believe  that  some  success  and  some  fruitfulness 
have  been  denied  to  any  life  that  has  been  lived  under 
these  conditions  through  the  heat  by  day  and  the  frost 
by  night,  and  often  with  "  close-lipped  patience  for 
its  only  friend," 


140     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

Winning  Souls. 

'HAT  the  golden  and  wooden  chest  was  to  the 


Israelite,  that  is  Christ  to  us.  He  is  our  Ark 
of  the  Covenant.  He  says  to  us,  "  Whither  I  go  ye 
know,  and  the  Way  ye  know."  He  has  gone  before 
us  in  our  quest  for  the  wanderers.  Who  will  bring 
me  into  the  strong  city,  who  will  bring  me  into  Edom  ? 
That  is  the  question  that  comes  to  us  as  we  sit  down 
before  the  fastness  of  a  human  heart.  It  is  Christ 
who  brings  us  in  ...  none  but  Christ. 

Discoveries. 

LET  us  be  exceedingly  careful  before  we  call  any 
one  destitute  of  backbone.  It  is  a  grave  accusa- 
tion, and  it  is  often  made  on  plausible  grounds,  and  yet 
quite  falsely.  There  are  those  who  come  very  slowly 
to  a  conclusion,  and  are  yet  the  most  immovable  and 
staunch  of  all  once  they  have  reached  it.  They  are 
inaccessible  to  sneers  and  threats.  They  are  not 
touched  by  blandishment.  They  may  even  be  some- 
what dull  in  the  apprehension  of  argument.  But  they 
seek  to  know  their  duty,  and  once  they  know  it  they 
do  it  at  all  costs.  Nunc  demum  redit  animus.  They 
pass  into  the  safest  of  all  forms  of  enthusiasm,  the 
enthusiasm  that  reposes  on  underlying  sanity  and 
moderation.  They  say  to  themselves  with  Hamlet, 
that  in  the  very  torrent,  tempest,  and  whirlwind  of 
their  passion  they  must  acquire  and  beget  a  temper- 
ance, for  only  thus  can  perfect  and  enduring  deeds 
be  done. 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          141 

We  find  out  what  iron  there  is  in  the  blood  of  many 
who  were  contented  to  remain  quiet  and  obscure  till 
they  saw  that  their  help  was  needed.  How  often  even 
on  this  earth  the  first  are  shown  to  be  the  last,  and  the 
last  first  ! 

2.   YOUNG  AND  OLD 
The  Pastor's  Holiday. 

WE  have  been  told,  by  a  very  acute  observer,  that 
no  minister,  however  popular,  can  absent 
himself  four  months  from  his  congregation  and  find 
things  as  they  were.  It  takes  two  years  to  win  back 
the  lost  ground.  Obviously  if  the  sermons  are  to  be 
worth  hearing,  if  the  organisations  of  the  Church  are 
to  be  attended  to,  above  all,  if  the  people  are  to  be 
faithfully  visited,  there  cannot  be  many  days  in  the 
week  to  spare  for  travelling.  Let  the  minister  have 
his  good  and  regular  holiday  where  it  is  possible.  He 
is  entitled  to  it,  and  he  will  work  better  for  it.  But 
let  every  minister  ask  what  holidays  his  people  have. 
What  holidays  can  a  medical  man  allow  himself,  or 
a  business  man,  or  a  journalist  ?  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  any  business  would  crumble  to  pieces  if  it 
was  attended  to  as  the  business  of  a  particular  congre- 
gation is  often  attended  to  by  prominent  ministers. 
What  is  still  worse,  the  bloom  of  the  spirit  is  destroyed 
by  continual  haranguing.  The  grace,  the  freshness, 
the  winsomeness  of  the  preacher  are  often  replaced  by 
the  screaming  voice,  the  poor  tags  of  claptrap,  the  worn- 
out  cliches  of  the  indefatigable  traveller  and  speechifier. 


142    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

Hurrying  About :    A  Temptation. 

I  QUESTION  very  much  whether  any  of  the 
younger  preachers  attain  to  the  height  of  a  few 
still  happily  with  us,  though  too  soon  they  must  leave 
us.  What  is  the  reason  ?  The  reason  is,  I  am 
firmly  convinced,  that  they  are  being  led  away  by  the 
tempter  in  the  form  of  a  railway  train.  Most  of  us 
know  it  takes  place.  Whenever  a  man's  head  is 
clearly  lifted  above  the  crowd  everyone  writes  to  him 
to  take  this  service  or  that,  to  address  this  meeting  or 
that.  He  is  at  first  inclined  to  say  no,  but  he  yields. 
After  a  while  he  finds  it  very  pleasant.  Railway 
travelling  is  now  most  comfortable  when  you  can  get 
your  meals  in  a  train  and  read  with  your  book  on  a 
little  tablej  beside  you.  Then  it  is  gratifying  to  go 
into  a  strange  place  and  receive  the  welcome  of  the 
citizens.  Sometimes  the  Mayor  will  be  there  to  greet 
you,  sometimes  the  clergy,  even  of  the  High  Church 
party.  Then  there  is  a  great  crowd  in  a  large  build- 
ing, many  friends  at  the  end  to  express  their  gratitude, 
and  an  enthusiastic  host  waiting  patiently  to  drive  you 
away  to  the  best  he  has.  Yes,  it  is  very  pleasant,  and 
the  taste  for  it  grows.  A  man  says,  "  After  all,  I  am 
the  servant  not  of  one  particular  congregation,  but 
of  the  whole  Church,  and  I  am  doing  more  good  in 
this  way  than  if  I  were  staying  at  home."  Then  he 
becomes  very  bold  and  tells  you  that  he  finds  that  rail- 
way carriages  are  excellent  places  for  study.  He 
invariably  takes  with  him  some  standard  work,  and 
even  writes  a  little  in  the  train,  so  that  by  the  time  he 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          143 

gets  home  on  Saturday  his  two  Sunday  sermons  for  his 
own  people  are  practically  completed.  So  it  happens, 
and  it  happens  more  and  more,  that  the  best  of  our 
younger  men  are  all  over  the  country  all  winter  and 
all  spring  and  sometimes  all  summer  too.  They  will 
tell  you  that  they  are  fully  engaged  for  the  next  two 
years.  They  have  little  fat  black  note-books  crowded 
with  the  faithful  entries,  and  of  course,  before  the  two 
years  are  ended  they  have  made  plenty  more  engage- 
ments. I  am  quite  certain  that  if  this  goes  on  the 
power  of  the  pulpit  in  the  Free  Churches  will  steadily 
wane,  and  wane  at  a  time  when  there  is  a  greater 
demand  for  good  preaching  than  there  ever  was,  when 
people  are  touchingly  grateful  for  a  living  message, 
but  when  they  are  also  able  to  see  with  terrible  clear- 
ness just  how  much  work,  how  much  strength,  how 
much  thought  have  been  given  to  the  sermon. 

Trials  of  the  Preacher. 

TF  the  old  friends  could  remain  round  a  preacher, 
-*•  he  would  court  no  man's  pulpit  or  fame.  But 
how  often  have  we  stood  by  venerable  men  in  little 
country  churches,  and  heard  them  tell  how  here  sat 
father,  mother,  brave  sons  and  fair  daughters,  now 
beyond  the  sea  ;  and  there  the  gracious  helper  and 
friend  of  every  good  word  and  work  ;  and  in  this 
place  the  patient,  gentle,  noble  Dorcas.  All  gone, 
and  none  to  take  their  places  !  The  tide  of  life  flows 
to  the  great  cities,  the  farms  are  being  thrown  together. 
The  best  thing  is  to  lean  back  upon  God,  and  to 


144     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

go  on  resolutely  putting  all  the  forces  of  life  into  the 
essential  work,  and  thinking  not  so  much  of  results 
and  rewards  as  of  duties.  Those,  it  has  been  said,  are 
first  in  reward  who  have  been  first  in  service  :  not 
thinking  of  reward,  hardly  ever  straightening  their 
backs  from  toil,  and  passing  as  humble  a  judgment  on 
their  work  as  the  last  and  least  of  their  fellow-labourer 
upon  theirs.  Such  lives  must  draw,  not  from  the  shal- 
low streams  of  earth,  but  from  the  deep  fountains  that 
flow  out  of  the  throne. 

Nor  will  they  be  without  gladness  and  peace. 
There  are,  it  has  been  said,  two  kinds  of  joy — the 
joy  that  is  pursued  after,  and  the  joy  that  overtakes. 
There  is  the  joy  for  which  the  house  is  swept  and 
garnished,  and  which  so  often  disappoints  or  fails  to 
come  ;  and  there  is  the  joy  that  comes  to  the  poor 
home  where  we  sit  at  work,  too  busy  to  think  of  it, 
and  brightens  the  commonplace  surroundings  and  the 
grey  colourless  life.  The  soul  that  is  dutiful  always 
and  in  all  things,  is  not  left  without  such  visitants. 

Lift  up  Tour  Hearts. 

A  MINISTER  who  has  toiled  unsuccessfully  for 
•*-  ^  twenty,  thirty,  forty  years  may  be  filled  with 
the  Spirit,  and  find  that  when  he  is  old  and  nearing 
the  end  he  is  for  the  first  time  really  young  and  blessed 
and  victorious.  If  we  will  lift  our  hearts  for  the  rain, 
the  autumn  days,  if  it  must  be  autumn,  may  rise  with 
more  than  the  vanished  splendour  of  old  mornings, 
and  there  will  be  no  winter  in  our  year. 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          145 

3.  TROUBLES  AND  REMEDIES 
The  Duty  of  the  Pulpit. 

is  impossible  not  to  see  that  many  ministers,  in 
an  age  when  good  preaching  is  perhaps  more 
needed  and  more  prized  than  in  any  other,  are  losing 
the  golden  hour  and  their  hearers  know  it.  Because 
the  results  are  not  immediately  apparent  ;  because  a 
sermon  thoroughly  thought  out  seems  to  tell  less  for 
the  moment  than  an  impromptu  effusion,  they  fail  to 
put  heart  and  conscience  into  their  ministrations.  And 
because  Christian  people  are  still  very  patient,  very 
slow  to  wound  the  feelings  of  their  pastors,  the  truth 
may  never  come  out.  But  all  the  more  it  is  bitterly 
felt  that  the  preacher  is  a  trifler.  Those  who  know 
the  light  and  strength  which  may  be  imparted  by  a 
strong  and  true  ministry,  and  the  dull  weariness  and 
disappointment  with  which  many  a  busy  and  tempted 
man  thinks  of  his  Sunday,  will  never  admit  that  any 
part  of  a  minister's  duty  is  to  be  compared  with  his 
duty  to  his  pulpit.  And  if  this  duty  is  faithfully  done, 
complaints  of  shortcoming  elsewhere  will  at  least 
be  much  assuaged.  It  is  possible  in  pastoral  visitation 
to  make  up  for  quantity  by  quality.  The  rare  visits 
of  the  helpful  and  honoured  teacher  are  more  than  the 
constant  calls  of  the  idle  busy-body. 

Narrowing  the  Life. 

*  I  VHE  great  teacher  in  these  days  must  have  the 
-*-        dew  upon  his  thoughts.     This  can  only  come 
from  long,  quiet  meditation,  solitary  contemplation. 
i — 10 


146    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

We  know  very  well  how  Newman,  Robertson,  Phillips 
Brooks,  Spurgeon,  Parker,  Maclaren  and  their  like 
became  great  preachers  :  it  was  because  they  did  not 
fear  to  narrow  their  lives,  really  to  cut  off  a  great  deal 
that  was  seductive  and  pleasant  enough.  They  con- 
centrated themselves  fearlessly  on  their  own  task  ; 
they  lived  in  their  studies.  They  were  not  merely 
reading  there,  they  were  thinking,  praying,  adoring. 
So  they  accomplished  a  permanent  work.  Nobody 
need  suppose  that  he  can  really  think  out  a  sermon 
worth  listening  to  in  a  railway  train. 

Silence  and  Observation. 

TV/T  ANY  things  are  said  foolishly  about  preparation. 
•*•-**  Individuality  must  have  its  scope  there  as 
much  as  in  work.  Sir  Walter  Scott  "  made  "  himself 
among  the  Dandie  Dinmonts  in  Liddesdale.  When 
everyone  thought  he  was  wasting  his  time,  he  was 
gathering  the  stores  from  which  the  Waverley  novels 
flowed  swift  and  clear  like  running  water.  But 
preparation  of  some  kind  there  must  be  for  any  worthy 
achievement,  the  preparation  of  thought  and  silence, 
as  well  as  of  observation  and  life.  In  proportion  as 
a  preacher  seems  to  have  neglected  this,  in  that  pro- 
portion his  influence  is  weakened  morally  and  spiritu- 
ally, as  well  as  intellectually. 

A  Word  to  the  Idle. 

f  I  ^HERE  is  no  hope  for  those  who  systematically 

•*•        preach    old   sermons.     Language   alters,    the 

situation  alters,  the  preacher's  mind  alters,  and  the 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          147 

sermon  remains  a  useless  relic.  There  are  many 
preachers  who  have  been  years  intellectually  dead, 
adding  nothing  to  their  vocabularies,  to  their  ideas,  to 
their  knowledge.  These  have  no  right  to  expect 
success.  We  do  not  mean  that  intellectual  toil  is 
sufficient.  Happy  is  he  whom  the  Truth  by  itself 
doth  teach,  not  by  figures  and  words  that  pass  away, 
but  as  it  is  in  itself.  This  must  be  often  the  preacher's 
prayer,  "  Let  all  the  learned  hold  their  peace  ;  let  all 
creatures  be  silent  in  Thy  sight ;  speak  Thou  alone 


The  Strange  Young  People. 

TT7"E  are  afraid  that  many  ministers  do  not  know 
the  young  people  of  their  flocks  as  the  old 
ministers  used  to  know  them.  Grant  that  it  is  not 
easy  to  become  acquainted  with  the  young.  Hardly 
anything  that  is  easy  is  worth  doing.  The  young 
rarely  make  approaches.  They  have  to  be  approached, 
and  if  they  are  approached  in  the  right  way  they  will 
respond.  It  is  a  difficult  thing  to  win  a  young  heart, 
but  it  may  be  done.  The  power  exerted  by  a  preacher 
whose  people  know  him  and  love  him  and  honour 
him  is  as  great  to-day  as  ever  it  was.  Nothing  will 
take  the  place  of  personal  intercourse,  and  the  more 
the  nature  is  enriched  by  communion  with  God,  the 
more  gentle,  gracious,  and  supreme  will  be  the 
influence  which  consciously  or  unconsciously  it 
wields. 


148     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

A  Delicate  Task. 

T7ERY    few    people    have    any    qualification    for 
visiting  the  sick. 

When  Winter  Comes. 

'T^HROUGH  the  Holy  Spirit  is  derived  all  the 
•*•  power  of  preaching,  all  its  saving  power.  It 
is  this  which  may  best  solve  the  sad  problem  of  declin- 
ing years.  However  lonely  and  cheerless  circum- 
stances may  be.  He  is  all-sufficient.  Preachers  may 
often  wish  they  were  working  like  Andrea  Del  Sarto 
at  Florence : 

"  In  such  a  fire  of  souls 
Profuse,  my  hand  kept  playing  by  those  hearts." 

But  how  often  the  wish  is  denied,  and  how  often  they 
are  stripped  one  by  one  of  almost  every  sympathiser. 
Yet  even  then  there  is  no  need  that  their  work  should 
end  in  a  long  drift  of  gloom.  T^ey  are  called  to  press 
through  the  crowd  of  creatures  to  the  living  Lord 
Himself,  and  find  that  the  light  of  Christ  is  the  light 
of  seven  days.  So  may  come  to  pass  the  saying,  that 
"  the  wisest  men  are  wise  to  the  full  in  death." 


4.   CONSIDERATIONS 
The  Pastoral  Duty. 

TO  save  a  life  from  failure  may  be  almost  as  much 
as  to  save  a  soul  from  death. 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          149 

Burning  Zeal. 

O  highest  work  is  ever  done  without  passion. 


N' 


No  great  movement  has  ever  swept  a  nation 
apart  from  it.  Give  us  that,  and  the  light  that  never 
was  on  sea  or  land  will  fall  on  the  pulpit  once  again. 

The  Weary  and  the  Sad. 

*  I  VHE  craving  for  pastoral  visitation  proves  the  deep 
•*•  and  universal  need  of  sympathy.  The  true 
preacher  is  not  deceived  by  appearances.  He  is  alive 
s  to  the  growing  weariness  of  the  world.  He  knows 
that  the  most  envied  among  his  hearers  may  be  those 
who  wish  themselves  well  out  of  it,  at  the  bottom  of  a 
quiet  grave.  He  knows  that  others  are  devoured  by 
anxiety  ;  every  knock  at  the  door  means  a  knock  at  the 
heart.  For  others  the  summer  is  over,  and  they  are 
left  to  scanty  and  foggy  winter  lights.  These  care 
for  nothing  but  the  full  gospel  of  deliverance — the 
gospel  of  Incarnation,  Atonement,  and  Resurrection. 

The  Longing  for  Guidance. 

WHATEVER  may  seem,  the  world  is  longing 
for  true  Christian  preachers.  When  one 
such  comes  to  a  city  he  sheds  a  brightness  which  by 
and  by  extends  to  its  boundaries.  When  he  departs 
from  the  city  it  is  as  if  a  shadow  had  fallen  upon  it. 
The  land  and  the  world  are  full  of  longings  and  wel- 
comes to  those  who  are  sent  of  God  with  the  message 
of  the  Gospel.  To  preach  that  message  with  faith 


150    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

and  power  till  all  the  years  are  full,  you  must  remain 
students  of  divinity.  Long  after  you  have  passed 
through  the  gates  of  your  college,  long  after  your 
teachers  have  passed  away,  you  must  still  be  diligent 
in  the  holy  task  which  brings  with  it  strength  and  joy. 
We  must  be  students  of  divinity  till  the  time  when  we 
go  where  the  divinity  is  clearer — where  the  light  of 
the  Face  of  God  is  the  light  of  His  people. 

The  True  Pastor. 

EVERY  minister  has  much  to  suffer.  The  finest 
natures  are  often,  alas  !  the  most  sensitive,  and 
a  word  of  discouragement  will  do  more  to  cast  them 
down  than  many  expressions  of  love  will  to  cheer. 
Then  the  true  pastor  has  a  share  in  every  bitter  cup  put 
to  the  lips  of  his  people.  Then  there  is  the  labour 
of  preaching — great  and  difficult  as  it  is  noble — 
pastoral  oversight,  which  must  not  be  neglected  ;  and 
a  share  in  the  work  of  the  manifold  societies  and 
agencies,  etc.,  that  spring  up  in  every  vigorous  church. 
Many  a  man  goes  on  taking  his  share  of  all  these  with 
hardly  a  word  of  recognition,  till  at  last  he  succumbs, 
and  blind  eyes  are  opened  for  an  instant. 

Taking  Part. 

ADVISING  is  very  thankless  work.     It  is  so 
thankless  that  one  of  the  wisest  men  I  ever 
knew  told  me  once  that  he  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  was  quite  useless,  and  that  the  best  thing  to  do 
was  to  leave  people  to  take  their  own  way. 


THE  CURE  OF  SOULS          151 

A  Loving  Imagination. 

N  order  to  love  mankind,  you  must  expect  much 


i 


from  them  ;  in  order  to  love  a  soul,  you  must 
imagine  it  as  it  will  be,  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or  any 
such  thing,  the  heir  of  eternal  life,  the  conquering  son 
of  God. 


IN  THE  PULPIT 

"  It  is  not  often  that  one  hears  a  sermon  obviously  spoken  with 
gladness." 

i.   PREPARATION 

"  Simpering." 

IF  you  know  that  something  has  to  be  done  at  a  cer- 
tain time,  you  cannot  begin  the  preparation  too 
soon.  I  remember  a  country  minister  who  rendered 
some  words  remarkably.  He  said,  "  I  like  to  find  the 
text  of  my  Sunday  sermon  on  Monday,  and  keep  it 
simpering  up  and  down  in  my  mind  all  the  week." 
I  suspect  he  meant  simmering.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  longer  a  subject  is  thought  over  the  more 
adequately  it  is  treated  when  the  time  comes  for  treat- 
ment. 

The  Word  of  Life. 

FOR  the  understanding  of  all  the  great  truths  which 
must  constitute  the  strength  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  there  must  be  an  immediate  and  super- 
natural illumination.  There  is  no  need  to  deny  the 
value  of  speech.  It  will  do  much.  There  are  runes 
and  spellwords  by  which  marvels  are  wrought  in  the 
poet's  heaven  of  invention.  But  what  is  needed  is 
that  your  hearers  should  feel  the  shock  of  a  vital 

152 


IN  THE  PULPIT  153 

battery,  and  such  a  battery  is  neither  to  be  filled  nor 
discharged  by  words.  No  learning  and  no  power 
of  intellect  can  by  itself  increase  the  substance  of  your 
knowledge  of  divine  and  eternal  truths.  And  those 
who  possess  no  learning,  but  who  have  studied  the 
mind  of  the  Spirit,  those  in  whom  Christ  survives,  are 
able  to  judge  you  and  your  sermons,  to  recognise  the 
field  which  the  Lord  hath  blessed,  and  the  streams  that 
make  glad  the  tabernacles  of  the  Most  High. 


2.   POINTS  ABOUT  METHOD 
A  Warning. 

IN  the  pulpit  every  style  is  good  except  the  tiresome 
style. 

Spiritual  Energy. 

UNLESS   the  preacher  interests  people   in  what 
God  has  said,  he  has  done  nothing.     Unless 
he  impresses  his  hearers  by  what  God  has  said,  he  has 
not  begun  his  work. 


The  Missionary  Address. 

1TF  such  meetings  are  to  be  successful,  an  address 
-*•  ought  to  be  limited  to  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 
It  is  astonishing  how  difficult  it  is  to  deliver  a  brief, 
well-proportioned,  impressive  missionary  address. 


154    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

Young  Faces, 

THE  sermon  to  children  is  not  enough.  They 
have  to  be  remembered  all  through  the  worship. 
They  have  been  gathered  in  pastoral  care  and  pains, 
and  if  their  young  faces  are  before  him  and  in  his  heart, 
we  believe  that  a  minister  will  find  it  very  easy  to  say 
a  word  here  and  there  which  will  make  them  feel  that 
their  presence  is  valued  and  sought  for.  Here,  again, 
we  come  back  to  the  old  requisite — the  revival  of  the 
pastoral  heart. 

An  Ordered  March. 

AS  for  sermons,  I  could  never  listen  comfortably 
to  any  that  were  not  clearly  divided.  If  you 
know  that  the  preacher  has  a  beginning,  a  middle,  and 
an  end,  you  may  walk  alongside  of  him.  But  if  there 
is  no  continuity  in  the  discourse,  if  there  is  no  reason 
why  it  should  end  at  one  point  rather  than  another, 
if  there  is  no  recognisable  march  of  thought,  the 
dreariness  of  the  whole  is  intolerable  to  me.  I  can 
remember  listening  to  such  a  preacher  in  old  days,  and 
resolving  firmly  not  to  look  at  the  clock  till  a  respect- 
able period  had  passed.  When  I  did  look  at  the  clock, 
after  what  seemed  hours  of  agony,  less  than  five 
minutes  had  passed. 

Do  they  Listen? 

SPEAKERS,  and  especially  preachers,  are  almost 
always    firmly   persuaded    that   they    have    the 
power  of  commanding  an  audience.     Who  has  not 


IN  THE  PULPIT  155 

known  dull  preachers  who  tell  you  with  much  com- 
placency that  whatever  faults  their  congregations  may 
have  they  are  singularly  attentive  ?  And  now  that 
I  think  of  it  I  have  heard  congregations  blamed  for 
many  things  by  their  ministers,  blamed  for  stinginess, 
blamed  for  irregularity  in  attendance,  and  the  like. 
But  I  never  heard  them  blamed  for  not  listening.  And 
yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  congregation  that  can  listen 
is  quite  the  exception.  You  may  go  from  church  to 
church,  and  you  will  not  see  once  in  a  hundred  times 
a  congregation  quite  mastered,  quite  still  and  eager. 


The   Useful  Element  of  Surprise. 

IF  you  think  of  it,  everybody  becomes  wearisome 
when  you  always  know  just  what  they  will  say 
and  do  in  all  circumstances.  Many  people  listen 
without  hope  to  their  preachers.  Experienced 
hearers  can  often  tell  you,  when  a  text  is  announced, 
practically  all  that  will  be  said  upon  it.  I  lay  stress 
upon  the  element  of  surprise,  surprise  in  diction, 
surprise  in  thought. 


The  Building. 

THE  sanctuary  should  be  a  place  to  which  men 
may  flee  in  times  of  darkness  and  bewilderment 
and  care  ;  a  place  where  Christ  is  ;   where  God  bends 
over  the  worshippers,  not  as  a  dark  Fate,  but  as  a  living 
Father. 


156    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

3.   THE   HUNGRY  SHEEP 
The  Great  Responsibility. 

O  far  as  our  experience  goes.  Evangelical  preachers 
in  the  Free  Churches  have  practically  ceased 
to  pray  for  the  unconverted  or  to  plead  with  them. 
There  are  many  exceptions,  no  doubt,  but  for  five 
years  at  least  we  have  not  met  with  one.  This  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  say.  If  there  is  anything  that  the 
growing  apocalypse  of  life,  as  found  in  literature, 
proves,  it  is  that  life  may  be,  and  often  is,  suddenly 
changed.  It  may  be  a  thought,  it  may  be  a  face 
that  enters  into  it,  and  it  is  never  more  the  same. 
Every  preacher  has  in  his  congregation  young  souls 
waiting  for  the  seal — on  the  very  threshold  of  the 
Kingdom. 

A  Preacher's  Chance. 

FT  is  this  great  hope  of  glory  that  needs  to  be 
-*•  preached  if  Christianity  is  to  recover  its  life  and 
glow.  There  are  not  many  would  care  to  live  end- 
lessly such  a  life  as  they  have  lived  here.  They  can 
do  their  work,  and  fight  their  fight,  if  they  hear  the 
old  ringing  trumpet  notes,  if  they  are  stirred  by  the 
ancient  promise.  They  know  that  we  never  attain 
here.  They  have  watched  the  failures,  they  have 
seen  that  high  genius  just  falls  short  of  expressing  it- 
self permanently,  that  fortune  is  miserly  when  the  one 
little  thing  is  in  sight  which  would  make  life  rich  with 


IN  THE  PULPIT  157 

a  long  happiness.  And  even  when  the  cup  of  joy  is 
drained,  there  is  often  a  mysterious  disappointment, 
or,  it  may  be,  a  recoil  of  feeling,  and  the  heart  is  left 
hungry  and  full  of  wishes.  To  say  that  this  is  to 
continue  is  to  embarrass,  depress,  and  even  paralyse 
the  life.  The  spirit  dwindles  and  fades  if  the  hope  of 
glory,  of  perfection,  of  vision,  of  inviolable  security, 
is  taken  from  it.  But  we,  according  to  His  promise, 
look  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth,  wherein 
dwelleth  righteousness.  We  have  not  been  deluded 
by  an  unreal  vision  and  an  imaginary  hope.  Not 
far  away  is  that  inheritance,  the  thought  of  which  kills 
the  petty  fears  of  life,  and  changes  the  face  of  death. 
The  soul  that  struggles  and  strives  the  appointed  time 
shall  in  no  wise  lose  its  reward,  or  be  baulked  of  its 
long  desire. 

Sermon  !   Sermon  ! 

I  HA VE  been  made  increasingly  to  feel  that  ministers 
do  not  sufficiently  believe  in  the  power  of  preach- 
ing. So  little  is  said  about  sermons.  A  man  may 
pour  out  his  heart's  blood  for  years  and  practically 
hear  nothing  of  it.  He  is  tempted  to  conclude  that 
he  will  do  his  best  work  in  visitation  and  in  organising. 
It  is  not  so  :  believe  me.  Though  hearers  say  little, 
they  feel  much.  Those  who  have  to  fight  a  hard 
battle  through  the  week  come  to  church  on  Sunday 
starving  for  the  Bread  of  Life.  It  affects  all  the  week 
to  come  if  they  miss  it.  If  they  are  fed  they  do  their 
work  more  easily,  more  happily,  more  bravely.  Not- 


158     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

withstanding  the  multitudes  of  societies,  it  may  safely 
be  affirmed  that  such  organisations  do  little  or  nothing 
if  the  preaching  is  not  the  life  of  all  the  church. 
That  must  be  the  fountain.  If  it  is  dried  up, 
everything  will  fail. 

If  this  be  so,  you  must  preach  your  very  best  !  The 
sermon  must  be  the  result  and  efflux  of  your  best 
thoughts  and  feelings  during  the  week.  You  must 
live,  as  someone  has  said,  for  your  sermon  and  in  your 
sermon.  Get  some  starling  to  cry  "  Sermon,  sermon, 
sermon  !  "  I  have  heard  it  said  that  commonplace 
ministers  should  not  spend  too  much  time  in  preparing 
for  the  pulpit,  because  the  result  will  be  much  the  same 
whether  they  take  two  or  ten  hours  to  prepare.  It  is 
a  deadly  fallacy.  You  will  not  preach  in  the  humblest 
chapel  without  it  being  known  by  the  people  perfectly 
well  whether  you  are  or  are  not  doing  your  best. 
There  is  no  grander  sight  in  the  world  than  that  of  a 
man  honestly  doing  his  utmost.  He  commands  the 
respect  of  everyone,  whether  he  succeeds  or  not,  and 
he  is  very  apt  to  succeed. 

A  Preacher* s  Resources. 

TT^TOULD  God  that  all  the  Lord's  people  were 
prophets  !  They  are  listened  to  because 
they  are  speaking  from  the  heart.  If  we  speak  from 
the  heart  we  shall  also  be  heard.  It  is  not  our  business 
to  wait  in  dead  stupidity,  like  logs  by  the  side  of  a 
river,  till  a  revival  freshlet  comes  and  floats  us  away 
to  the  other  shore.  The  Spirit  of  God  is  working 


IN  THE  PULPIT  159 

when  we  yearn  and  pray,  and  His  deliverance  will 
burst  upon  those  who  seek  it  like  sudden  light  from 
the  sky. 


The  Hungry  Sheep. 

THOSE  whom  you  preach  to,  here  and  elsewhere, 
cannot  wait.  The  burden  of  life  is  heavy 
upon  them  ;  their  years  are  too  few,  they  need  to  have 
their  lives  filled  with  a  satisfying  joy,  and  it  is  only 
God  that  can  fill  them.  For  these  the  message  is 
"  Now  is  the  day  of  Salvation."  The  Apostles 
preached  the  Gospel  to  those  whose  circumstances 
were  more  intolerable  than  would  be  borne  now,  to 
slaves  who  had  before  them,  perhaps,  the  dreadful 
plunge  into  the  lampreys'  pool.  Christ  Himself 
stood  up  in  the  midst  of  a  little  knot  of  forgotten  Jews, 
at  a  time  when  the  weight  of  life  was  heaviest,  and 
said,  "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labour  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  If  you  go  to 
tell  men  that  you  will  teach  them,  that  you  will  help 
them  to  bring  in  Socialism,  that  you  will  fight  for  this 
reform  and  that,  perhaps  they  may  laugh  in  your  face, 
for  they  know  that  for  bread  you  are  giving  them  a 
stone.  But  you  can  feed  them  with  the  Bread  of 
Life.  Let  us  see  whether  there  need  be  a  suspension 
of  the  Gospel.  Sorrow  is  not  suspended,  sin  is  not 
suspended,  death  is  not  suspended.  Is  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  suspended  ?  Has  Christ  ceased  to  draw  the 
human  soul  ?  Has  the  Holy  Ghost  ceased  to  bless 
Christ's  Gospel  ?  Do  not  believe  this,  till  you  have 


ifo     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

proved  it  by  many  painful  and  costly  experiences. 
You  will  never  prove  it  if  the  Gospel  is  preached  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  sent  down  from  heaven. 


4,  STRAY  THOUGHTS 
Faithful  Office-bearers. 

TTOW  interesting  it  would  be  to  know  something 
••--*•  of  the  deacons  who  served  under  Dr.  Stough- 
ton,  their  names  reaching  back  to  the  time  of  William 
IV.  !  There  are  no  shrines  more  precious  than  the 
graves,  scattered  here  and  there  in  country  places,  of 
the  men  who  made  Nonconformity  what  it  is  to-day. 
They  are  our  possession,  and  not  ours  only  ;  they  are 
a  national  heirloom,  as  sacred  as  those  tombs  in  the 
Temple  Church  of  the  knights  who  went  long  ago  to 
the  Holy  Wars. 


A  Word  to  the  Congregation. 

*  I  VHE  intellect  is  the  very  last  thing  which  many  a 
•*•  good  man  lays  upon  the  altar  of  Christ. 
He  may  show  the  keenest  and  finest  powers  in  his 
profession  or  in  business,  but,  when  he  stands  up  to 
address  his  fellow- Christians,  the  humblest  of  them 
see  that  he  has  nothing  to  say  which  deserves  to  be 
listened  to  ;  and  this  is  why  the  burden  falls  always 
on  the  pastor.  Now,  why  should  not  the  officers  and 
members  of  churches  make  themselves  acquainted  with 


IN  THE  PULPIT  161 

theology  ?     Why  should  they  not  be  able  to  read  at 
least  the  New  Testament  in  the  original  ? 


The  Labourer's  Hire. 

I  SPOKE  once  with  an  old  Baptist  minister  about  a 
sentence  of  Dickens,  in  which  he  speaks  of  a  man 
ending  miserably,  who  might  have  had  the  happiness 
of  dying  with  children's  faces  round  his  bed.  He  said, 
"  My  friend,  that  might  be  the  worst  of  dying,  if  one 
did  not  know  how  the  children  were  to  be  provided 
for."  The  Lord  will  provide  5  but  He  provides 
through  us.  Let  us  see  to  it  that  our  country  ministers 
shall  not  be  afraid  to  die  with  children's  faces  round 
their  bed. 


A  Glance  from  the  Pew. 

*  I  VHERE  is  something  that  touches  one,  seeing 
-*•  an  old  friend  after  a  lapse  of  years.  More 
particularly  if  you  have  the  chance  of  prolonged  obser- 
vation such  as  comes  as  when  he  is  in  the  pulpit  and 
you  are  in  the  pew.  No  matter  how  eloquently  or 
freshly  he  speaks — spite  of  yourself  and  him,  thoughts 
will  wander  to  other  scenes  and  other  days.  What 
have  the  years  that  conquer  us  done  to  him  ?  How 
has  he  borne  up  under  their  strain  and  toil  ?  What 
has  been  his  schooling  ?  What  new  tones  and  thoughts 
and  visions  have  come  to  him  in  the  day  and  night  ? 
Or  is  he  of  those  who  have  learned  nothing,  and 
forgotten  nothing  ? 
i — II 


1 62    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

A  Mystery  of  Numbers. 

THERE  are  some  five  million  people  in  London, 
many  of  them  Wesleyans,  many  Presbyterians, 
many  readers  of  Beside  the  Bonnie  Briar  Bush.  Great 
Queen  Street  Chapel  holds,  say,  two  thousand  people 
when  crowded.  What  I  want  to  know  is,  by  what 
mysterious  contrivance  just  that  number  of  people 
came  to  the  service  ?  Why  should  not  four  thousand 
have  come,  or  one  thousand  ?  The  place  was  full, 
and  everyone  knew  it  would  be  full.  The  upper 
galleries,  even,  were  gradually  occupied.  But  every- 
one got  in,  though  if  another  hundred  had  attended 
there  might  have  been  much  difficulty.  The  same 
problem  has  confronted  me  more  or  less  all  my  life, 
for  though  very  familiar  with  religious  services,  I 
hardly  recollect  a  single  instance  when  people  were 
turned  from  the  doors. 


The  Men  with  Experience. 

OTHER  things  being  equal,  I  prefer  ministers 
tolerably  advanced  in  life.  When  poor  W.  B. 
Rands  was  writing  against  Cardinal  Newman,  he  said  : 
"  I  ask  pardon  of  your  sacred  office,  of  your  spotless 
life,  of  your  grey  hairs,  of  your  transcendent  genius." 
Young  men  have  more  fire,  more  hopefulness,  more 
energy,  and  (though  not  in  this  case)  more  Tennyson. 
But  after  the  Lord  has  given  and  has  taken  away, 
a  man  is  deeper.  Actual  contact  with  the  Eternal — 
touch  on  touch — makes  the  true  teacher. 


IN  THE  PULPIT  163 

Hope  for  All. 

TT  must  be  remembered  that  the  man  who  can  write 
-*•  one  good  sermon  can  write  a  thousand,  and  that 
the  man  who  can  write  one  good  novel  can  generally 
write  at  least  a  dozen. 

Think  Happily. 

TF  the  minister  thinks  unfavourably  of  his  people, 
-•"  his  people  are  sure  to  think  unfavourably  of  him. 


GENERALS  OF  THE  CHURCH 

"  For  the  leaders  in  all  spheres  the  first  requirement  is  an 
indomitable  hope.  To  have  that  is  more  than  ability  ;  more  than 
genius." 

JOHN  WESLEY 

'  I  VHE  bloom  of  life  should  come  out  of  death. 
-••  The  resurrection  life  should  pour  into  the 
depleted  veins,  and  fill  them  with  strength  and  peace. 
That  was  eminently  the  experience  of  John  Wesley. 
Branch  after  branch  was  withered,  but  every  time  the 
new  life  rushed  through  all  the  arid  fibres,  and  they 
bloomed  again.  There  is  no  book,  I  humbly  think, 
in  all  the  world  like  John  Wesley's  Journal.  It  is 
pre-eminently  the  book  of  the  resurrection  life  lived 
in  this  world.  It  has  very  few  companions.  In- 
deed, it  stands  out  solitary  in  all  Christian  literature, 
clear,  detached,  columnar.  It  is  a  tree  that  is  ever 
green  before  the  Lord.  It  tells  us  of  a  heart  that 
kept  to  the  last  its  innocent  pleasures  and  interests, 
but  held  them  all  looselyand  lightly,  while  its  Christian, 
passionate  peace  grew  and  grew  to  the  end.  To  the 
last  there  are,  not  diminishing,  but  increasing,  the  old 
zeal,  the  old  wistfulness,  the  calm  but  fiery  and  reveal- 
ing eloquence.  John  Wesley  was,  indeed,  one  of 
those  who  had  attained  the  inward  stillness,  who  had 
entered  the  Second  Rest — of  those  who,  to  use  his 

164 


GENERALS  OF  THE  CHURCH     165 

own  fine  words,  are  "  at  rest  before  they  go  home  ; 
possessors  of  that  rest  which  remaineth  even  here  for 
the  people  of  God."  It  is  with  peculiar  love  and 
reverence  that  one  comes  to  his  closing  days,  and 
follows  him  to  his  last  sermon  at  Leatherhead,  on  the 
words,  "  Seek  ye  the  Lord  while  He  may  be  found, 
call  ye  upon  Him  while  He  is  near  "  ;  and  watches 
by  his  triumphant  death-bed,  and  hears  him  say,  "  The 
clouds  drop  fatness." 


PRINCIPAL  RAINY 
Rare  and  Wise. 

T~"\R.  RAINY  was  one  of  the  greatest  of  Church- 
-*~^  men,  and  the  name  of  his  Church  was  deeply 
graven  upon  his  heart.  Her  solicitudes  occupied  his 
last  waking  moments.  He,  we  may  be  sure,  was  not 
one  of  the  exiles  who  needed  Jeremiah's  precept, 
"  Let  Jerusalem  come  into  your  mind."  Jerusalem 
had  been  in  his  mind,  his  thought  by  day,  his  dream 
by  night  this  many  a  long  year.  But  to  those  who 
saw  him  of  late  years  it  was  evident  that  he  who  had 
carried  the  cross  of  the  earthly  Jerusalem,  prayed  for 
her  peace,  toiled  for  her  triumph,  had  let  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem  come  much  into  his  mind.  He  was  watch- 
ing for  the  great  door  to  open  and  the  welcoming 
angels  beckon.  The  nearest  and  the  dearest  had  gone 
first.  The  fourscore  years  were  over  5  life  was  by 
the  day  and  hour,  and  the  mother  city  was  smiling  down 
on  the  old  pilgrim. 

He  gave  an  extraordinary  impression  of  wisdom 


166    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

Here  was  a  wise  man  ;  take  heed  of  him.  Nor  can 
it  be  doubted  that  he  was  a  wise  man,  and  wise  not 
only  as  a  great  man  of  the  world  is  wise,  but  with  a 
wisdom  that  was  rooted  very  deep.  He  was  more 
than  adequate  for  all  the  work  of  a  leader.  When  he 
saw  it  to  be  safe  he  could  laugh  away  a  matter  of 
threatening  aspect. 


HUGH   PRICE   HUGHES 

PERHAPS  his  conversation  was  more  remarkable 
•*•  even  than  his  public  speaking.  We  remember 
no  conversationalist  quite  like  him.  He  was  a  care- 
ful and  accurate  listener,  and  at  the  same  time  a  most 
copious  and  eager  talker.  In  this,  as  in  other  things, 
he  seemed  always  to  be  parting  with  vitality. 

A  Born  Soldier. 

HE  was  practically  sagacious  in  the  highest  degree. 
He  knew  what  he  longed  for,  what  he  wished 
to  do.  He  had  the  gift  of  getting  things  done.  He 
often  appeared  to  be  intemperate  in  expression,  but  this 
was  not  really  so.  He  had  an  exaggerated  way  of 
speaking.  Every  hour  was  regal  to  him.  But  his 
nature  was  cautious  and  conservative,  and  he  had  all 
the  attributes  of  a  great  general.  He  did  not  know 
how  to  take  care  of  himself,  and  so  to-day  multitudes 
mourn  and  miss  him,  and  will  continue  to  miss  him  all 
the  time  between  the  digging  of  his  grave  and  theirs. 


THE  PREACHER'S  READING 


"  Comes  the  afternoon,  when  Mr.  Fritterday  is  not  to  be  found 
fault  with  if  he  indulges  in  desultory  reading.  But  there  are 
two  ways  of  reading.  Mr.  Fullday  makes  the  discovery  that  all 
books  are  commentaries  on  Holy  Scripture.  When  the  minister 
does  that,  when  he  cuts  a  channel  between  his  general  reading 
and  his  sermons,  he  has  achieved  a  notable  victory." 


Why  he  Quailed. 

T  MET  a  minister  not  very  long  ago  who  actually 
-*•  told  me  that  he  had  read  in  his  railway  journeys 
Macleod  Campbell  on  the  Atonement.  To  do  him 
justice,  he  quailed  before  my  silent  and  prolonged 
contemplation  of  his  face.  Of  course,  Macleod  Camp- 
bell cannot  be  read  in  a  railway  train.  The  thing  is 
utterly  inconceivable.  You  might  as  well  say  that 
you  had  read  "  Sordello "  while  crossing  Piccadilly 
Circus. 


Reading  Printed  Sermons. 

TT  is  tempting  to  think  that  the  hours  largely  spent 
-*•  in  silent  fuming  might  introduce  us  to  Taylor 
and  Newman.  Surely  their  words  would  fall  on  many 
parched  congregations  like  summer  rain.  But  the 
suggestion  is  an  old  one,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  it 
has  never  been  successfully  tried. 

167 


1 68     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

The  Death  of  the  Mind. 

X/'OUR  great  danger  is  that  your  minds  may  die 
-•-  long  before  your  bodies.  The  preacher  who 
is  put  down  by  the  cry  that  congregations  will  have 
young  men  is  not  much  to  be  sympathised  with. 
Congregations  will  have  young  men,  and  they  are 
right  in  this,  but  they  must  not  reckon  youth  by  years. 
Try  to  make  every  year  a  year  of  growth  for  mind 
and  heart.  There  is  one  way  worth  trying.  Take 
one  great  teacher  and  give  him  the  best  part  of  your 
winter.  Have  a  Wesley  winter,  a  Maurice  winter, 
a  Wordsworth  winter,  a  Jonathan  Edwards  winter, 
and  you  will  find  that  the  company  of  great  men  is 
adding  cubits  to  your  stature.  We  are  dead  when 
we  cease  to  grow.  We  cease  to  be  ministers  of  Christ 
when  we  cease  to  be  students  of  divinity 


How  to   Use  Books 

GET  your  thought  from  the  fountain,  from  the 
New  Testament.  When  you  have  arranged 
it  in  divisions  it  does  not  matter  what  book  you  read, 
if  you  read  a  good  book.  Any  good  book  read  long 
enough  will  furnish  you  illustrations,  illustrations 
infinitely  more  real,  fresh  and  brightening  than  those 
you  will  get  out  of  any  encyclopaedia,  because  you 
have  found  them  yourself.  That  is  the  way  in  which 
the  preacher  should  use  books. 


THE  PREACHER'S  READING       169 

Power  of  Certain  Books 

*  I  VHE  most  graphic  pictures  of  the  marvellous 
•*•  shows  of  time  will  fail  to  touch,  if  they  do  not 
show  the  Master  Who  moves  behind  them.  Books 
as  books  can  do  something,  but  nothing  equal  to  the 
needs  j  books  that  are  preachers  may  beat  down  the 
worst  in  us,  inspire  the  best,  answer  the  questions  that 
tire  us  with  their  importunity,  and  help  us  to  make  our 
lives  not  a  rubbish-heap,  but  a  temple. 

Growing  Wise. 

JOHNSON  was  right  when  he  said  that  if  a  man 
would  read  anything  four  hours  a  day,  he  would 
by  and  by  grow  wise.     Books  will  fit  a  man  for 
his  work  ;  they  will  teach  him  large,  noble,  merciful 
thoughts  ;    they  will  widen  the  horizon  about  him  ; 
will  help  him  to  understand  the  spirit  of  the  days  ; 
and  they  will  enrich  his  preaching  in  proportion  as  he 
learns  to  group  all  knowledge  round  the  Name  which 
is  highest  in  earth  and  heaven. 

On  Finding  One's  Own. 

T  ONLY  ask  you  to  find  one  great  writer  whom  you 
"*•  love,  and  with  whom  you  keep  company.  I  do 
not  care  who  it  is.  It  may  be  Shakespeare,  Meredith, 
George  Eliot,  Browning,  Tolstoi — I  might  add  many 
names.  If  you  choose  an  opulent,  sincere,  and 
governing  mind,  and  if  you  are  thoroughly  impreg- 
nated and  saturated  with  his  thoughts  and  words,  a 


i  yo    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

portion  of  his  spirit  will  pass  to  yours.  I  may  add  that 
men  not  known  to  the  public  are  often  the  chief 
authorities  on  certain  authors  and  subjects.  The 
chief  authority  on  Christian  mysticism  is  a  Baptist 
minister,  who  has  never  published  any  book  on  the 
subject. 


An  Appearing  of  God. 

A  BEGINNING  of  days  to  many  preachers 
would  be  to  take  possession  of  some  new  pro- 
vince of  literature,  as  Robert  Hall  did  when,  after 
sixty,  he  studied  Italian  to  read  Dante  ;  as  Arnold 
did  when,  two  years  before  his  death,  he  began  San- 
skrit, pleading  that  "  he  was  not  so  old  as  Cato  when  he 
learned  Greek."  How  many  weary  and  starved 
congregations  listen  hopelessly  to  a  dejected  preacher 
who  will  never  give  them  a  word,  or  phrase,  a  thought 
they  have  not  heard  hundreds  of  times.  An  appearing 
of  God  to  such  a  man  would  send  him  to  his  desk,  and 
keep  him  there. 

Two  Persons  not  to  be  Found. 

HOW  many  ministers  are  there  who  have  a  pas- 
sion for  reading  ?  It  is  perhaps  not  fair  to 
appeal  to  the  size  of  their  libraries,  for  the  owners 
are  as  a  rule  poor,  and  have  not  many  opportunities 
of  getting  books.  Yet  in  this,  too,  the  adage  holds 
that  where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way.  In  the 
course  of  my  life  I  do  not  think  I  have  met  with  half 


THE  PREACHER'S  READING     171 

a  dozen  persons  whose  reading  could  be  said  to  be  very 
wide  or  various.  Further,  of  these  there  was  not 
one  who  had  not  greatly  benefited  by  his  reading,  and 
was  not  enabled  through  his  knowledge  of  books  to 
exercise  an  influence  which  he  would  not  otherwise 
have  possessed.  I  am  looking  in  vain  for  two  persons 
whom  one  frequently  hears  denounced  in  sermons 
and  in  addresses  —  the  man  who  wastes  his  time  in 
omnivorous  reading,  and  the  Christian  who  needs 
to  be  warned  against  expecting  too  much  in  the  way 
of  answer  to  prayer. 

To  be  Pitied. 

1  T  NEVER  read  anything,"  said  a  clergyman  the 
-*•  other  day  ;  "  I  have  no  time  for  books." 
Said  another  man  :  "  I  could  never  read  Scott  ;  I  was 
never  able  to  get  beyond  the  first  chapter  of  any  of  his 
books."  Well,  I  can  conceive  these  statements  being 
made  humbly,  honestly,  and  inoffensively.  It  is 
quite  true  that  there  are  worthy  people  who  can  see 
nothing  in  Scott.  They  are  much  to  be  pitied,  and 
they  ought  to  pity  themselves,  as  their  failure  to 
appreciate  Scott  means  a  strange  mental  incapacity. 
They  would  act  wisely  in  saying  little  about  it. 

Exhortation. 


XT'OU  will  discover  that  the  great  danger  before 

you  is  not  that  you  will  turn  into  criminals  or 

blackguards,  not  that  you  will  wreck  your  life  and 

shame  your  kindred.     Happily  there  are  not  many 


172    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

black  sheep  in  the  flock.  The  danger  is  that  you 
become  respectable,  decent,  commonplace,  uninter- 
esting mediocrities. 


One  Way  of  Marking. 

TT  7" HEN  I  see  anything  interesting  in  a  book  I 
turn  down  the  page,  making  no  mark  of  any 
kind.     As  a  rule  I  can  discover  the  passage  or  phrase 
which  interested  me  at  an  interval  of  years. 

A  Word  to  the  Wise. 

T  TOW  little  originality  there  is  in  most  men's 
•*•  •*•  reading  !  We  would  not  disparage  the  peru- 
sal of  the  books,  the  newspapers,  the  religious  news- 
papers of  the  day.  It  is  essential  to  understand  the 
spirit  of  the  time.  But  how  few  are  at  pains  to  enter 
into  the  thoughts  of  Butler,  or  Dante,  or  Jonathan 
Edwards,  or  the  mystics,  or  the  great  French  Ro- 
man Catholic  writers.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  minds 
naturally  sterile  and  anaemic  have  been  permanently 
enriched  and  vitalised  by  some  such  companionship. 


To  be  Faced. 

IT  is  unquestionable  that  the  poor  speaker  may  be 
taught  to  be  a  very  fair  speaker,  and  that  a  fair 
speaker  may  become  a  good  speaker,  and  the  good 
speaker  very  good.     What  is  doubtful  is  whether  the 
good  speaker  can  become  excellent 


THE  PREACHER'S  READING    173 

Our  Magazines. 

YOUR  library  should  reflect  simply  your  own 
taste.  You  are  not  bound  to  get  Kinglake's 
History  of  the  Crimean  War  to  please  anybody.  You 
are  not  bound  to  exclude  volumes  of  the  Earthen  Vessel 
if  they  please  you.  ...  I  venture  to  say  that  there  are 
few  better  additions  to  a  collection  of  books  than 
good  sets  of  magazines.  In  these  are  stored  up  much 
of  the  best  thought  and  the  best  writing  of  the  time. 

What  to  Buy. 

A  WELL-USED  encyclopaedia  will  change  the 
whole  mental  attitude.  One  of  the  best 
things  ever  said  about  self-culture  was  that  the 
greatest  change  that  ever  occurs  to  anybody  pur- 
suing knowledge  is  the  change  from  an  ignoramus 
to  a  fairly  well-informed  person.  "  You  cannot 
swim  ten  yards,  but  you  can  swim,  and  it  is  not  the 
distance  in  yards,  but  the  distance  between  wading  and 
swimming  which  it  is  so  difficult  to  get  over."  A  new 
power  has  been  acquired,  though  its  development  to 
any  respectable  extent  may  still  be  a  difficulty  of  the 
future. 


EMINENT  PREACHERS 

"  The  mysteries  of  God  are  revealed  only  to  humble  souls  on 
bended  knees." 

DR.   PARKER 

i 
The  Cry  to  Christ. 

T?OR  multitudes  there  was  no  preacher  like  him. 
He  showed  power  from  the  first,  but  he  took 
bad  models,  and  his  taste  was  imperfect.  It  is  won- 
derful to  trace  his  progress,  to  see  how  he  toiled  and 
how  he  ascended.  To  other  preachers  he  owed 
almost  nothing.  The  one  preacher  whose  influence 
is  traceable  in  his  later  work  is  Newman,  and  Newman 
was  almost  the  only  sermon-writer  whom  he  read  for 
many  years.  I  make  no  attempt  to  analyse  his  preach- 
ing, or  to  discover  the  secret  of  his  power.  It  was  a 
spiritual  wonder.  There  was  about  it  the  touch  of 
miracle.  Apparently  free  from  rule,  it  was  uncon- 
sciously obedient  to  the  great  principles  of  art.  As 
you  listened  you  saw  deeper  meanings.  The  horizon 
lifted,  widened,  broadened — the  preacher  had  thrust 
his  hand  among  your  heart  strings.  You  heard  the 
cry  of  life,  and  the  Christ  preached  as  the  answer  to 
that  cry.  The  preacher  had  every  gift.  He  was 
mystical,  poetical,  ironical,  consoling,  rebuking  by 
turns 


EMINENT  PREACHERS          175 

ii 

His  Humility. 

TT\R.  PARKER  was  extremely  sensitive.  Per- 
-*^  haps  sensitiveness  goes  much  more  often  with 
genius  than  with  talent.  He  greatly  lacked  self- 
confidence,  and  lived  in  the  constant  need  of  encour- 
agement. 

He  never  forgot  to  be  grateful.  His  was  a  nature 
that  had  much  need  of  brightness,  and  he  would  often 
pray  for  some  visible  sign  or  token  that  he  was  doing 
good. 

in 

His  Genius. 

T>ETWEEN  his  congregation  and  his  home  his 
-"-*  life  was  practically  lived  until  his  wife  died. 
After  that  he  turned  very  strongly  to  two  or  three 
friends  who  visited  him  every  week.  In  general  com- 
pany he  had  little  to  say,  but  among  his  own,  and 
especially  in  dialogue,  he  was  at  his  very  best.  As 
a  rule  he  wakened  up  slowly,  but  once  embarked  in 
the  full  stream  of  conversation,  he  was  vivacious  and 
brilliant  to  an  extraordinary  degree.  He  then  showed 
himself  a  man  of  genius.  I  have  met  men  cleverer, 
and  more  accomplished,  and  even  men  more  alert, 
but  never  a  man,  with  perhaps  one  exception,  more 
plainly  possessed  of  the  indefinable  quality  called 
genius.  In  conversation  he  could  adapt  himself  to 
his  companion,  but,  latterly  at  least,  he  liked  nothing 
so  well  as  to  discuss  his  texts  with  a  sympathetic  hearer, 
or  to  recall  his  memories  of  the  past.  He  would 


176    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

often  speak  with  the   utmost    finish,  precision,  and 
beauty. 

DR.   ALEXANDER  M'LAREN 


Highland  Chieftain. 

T7ROM  his  youth  he  looked  like  a  Highland  chief- 
•*•  tain  born  to  command.  In  any  company 
where  he  sat  was  the  head  of  the  table.  Before  you 
knew  he  was  a  prophet  you  were  sure  he  was  a  king. 
Who  can  forget  that  wonderful  face,  tender  and  stern, 
more  beautiful  and  more  saintly  as  the  years  went  on, 
with  the  lights  and  shadows  sweeping  over  it  ?  Who 
can  forget  the  flash  of  those  magnetic,  dominating  eyes  ? 
There  was  a  kind  of  regal  effulgence  about  him  in 
his  great  moments.  He  might  have  been  anything — 
soldier,  politician,  man  of  letters,  man  of  science,  and 
in  any  profession  he  would  have  taken  the  head.  He 
was  gifted  with  a  swift  and  clear-cutting  intellect. 
He  had  also  a  true  vein  of  poetry  and  genius.  He 
could  master  any  subject,  and  he  had  an  all-sided 
strength  and  capacity.  These  gifts  were  early  brought 
into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ. 

ii 
Emperor  and  Magician 

HE  had  the  temperament  of  an  orator,  and  he 
acquired  the  rare  faculty  of  speaking  better 
English  than  he  could  write.     It  was  amazing  to  see 
him  in  the  pulpit,  absorbed  by   the  passion  of  the 
moment,    and    yet    summoning    and    dismissing    his 


EMINENT  PREACHERS          177 

phrases.  You  could  see  the  double  process  going  on, 
the  mind  shaping  the  consummate  sentence  behind 
the  act  and  ardour  of  utterance.  At  last  words  came 
at  his  call,  or  without  being  called.  He  commanded 
words  as  an  Emperor  and  as  a  magician.  In  his  very 
loftiest  flights  one  hardly  knew  whether  he  spoke 
or  sang  ;  it  was  "  Speech  half  asleep  or  song  half 
awake." 

"MR.  JULIUS" 
i 

"  We  Flash  and  Fade." 

f  KNOW  of  some  who  will  be  found  on  the  right 
-^  hand  whatever  the  priests  and  doctors  say,  be- 
cause they  have  seen  Christ  an-hungered,  and  have 
given  Him  meat. 

You  cannot  hear  Mr.  Julius  pray  without  knowing 
that  you  are  in  the  presence  of  a  devout  and  spiritual, 
if  perplexed  nature.  "  Thou  art  the  Infinite  One  ; 
we  are  the  finite  many.  We  flash  and  fade  ;  Thou 
abidest.  Our  thought  fails  like  a  spent  bird  before 
Thee."  He  clings  to  the  great  certainties  ;  "  What- 
ever secrets  the  silence  may  hide,  may  we  ever  say  *  I 
must  do  my  duty.'  "  "  Be  gracious  to  those  to  whom 
Thou  hast  come  bereavingly.  In  Christ  the  living 
and  the  dead  meet,  though  they  cannot  now  speak  or 
clasp  hands — and  they  are  one  in  the  faith  of  His 
Eternal  Kingdom." 

I  never  cease  to  wonder  at  the  exquisite  lucidity  and 
beauty  of  his  style — never  a  word   failing  or  out  of 
place.     Not  perhaps  a  strong  man  for  great  public 
I — 12 


1 78     PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

tasks — rather  silent,  sensitive,  and  courting  the  shade  ; 
he  is,  nevertheless,  a  finely  tempered  instrument,  if 
ever  one  was.  I  have  left  the  little  place  sometimes 
feeling  that  nowhere  perhaps  in  Britain  had  there 
been  that  day  a  more  lavish  expenditure  of  thought 
and  imagination. 

ii 
The  Dire  Offence. 

'T^HE  great  offence  in  Blossoming  Lane  Chapel 
-*•  is  to  cough.  Mr.  Julius  shows  great  lenity 
to  other  offenders,  but  to  those  who  cough,  none. 
He  considers  coughing  a  voluntary  act  of  the  evil 
will,  and  the  greatest  injury  a  man  can  do  his  fellows. 
Any  hearty,  healthy  stranger  who  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  take  his  cough  in  his  church  stands  a  good 
chance  of  being  withered  by  one  of  Mr.  Julius's 
glances,  if  he  is  not  even  publicly  rebuked.  I  have 
resolved  on  my  own  line  of  action  if  I  am  rebuked. 
I  mean  to  rise  and  deliver  a  brief  Vindication  of 
Coughing,  which  I  have  composed  on  the  basis  of 
Mr.  Pickwick's  advice  to  Mr.  Peter  Magnus.  I 
shall  first  glance  briefly  at  the  universality  of  the 
practice,  as  proved  by  history  and  the  enormous 
number  of  patent  medicines. 

PRINCIPAL  CHARLES  EDWARDS 

i 

A  Great  Personality. 

rp  VERYONE  who  had  the  friendship  of  Dr.  Ed- 
•*-'  wards  must  feel  that  such  a  friendship  was  in 
itself  a  very  great  distinction.  Of  all  the  men  we  have 


EMINENT  PREACHERS          179 

ever  known  he  was  in  many  ways  the  most  remark- 
able, the  most  individual.  Were  we  compelled  to 
put  our  impression  of  him  into  one  sentence  we  should 
say  he  is  the  only  man  known  to  us,  since  Spurgeon 
died,  who  might  have  been  the  founder  of  a  great 
sect. 

No  one  who  ever  heard  Dr.  Edwards  preach  will 
forget  the  experience.  He  began  with  his  little  Bible 
in  his  hand,  speaking  slowly  in  a  low  voice,  and  gradu- 
ally rose  to  the  height  of  eloquence  and  passion.  He 
never  lowered  his  preaching,  but,  like  Mr.  Spurgeon, 
brought  his  hearers  face  to  face  with  the  most  august 
themes.  When  Spurgeon,  as  a  youth,  came  to  Lon- 
don, he  did  not  preach  about  the  anecdotes  of  the 
Bible,  but  took  for  texts  :  "  Accepted  in  the  beloved," 
"  No  man  can  come  unto  Me  except  the  Father  which 
hath  sent  Me  draw  him,"  and  so  plunged  into  the 
deep  sea.  In  the  same  way,  Dr.  Edwards  from 
the  first  asked  his  hearers  to  think,  and  to  think 
profoundly  ;  but  his  thoughts  were  all  of  them  fused 
in  passion. 


ii 

His  Detachment. 


/"T^HERE  was  about  Dr.  Edwards  most  noticeably 
-*•  that  "  solemn  scorn  of  ills  "  which  seals  the 
great  saint.  He  was  very  sensitive,  very  modest, 
easily  wounded,  yet  with  a  certain  high  disdain  of  life's 
dangers  and  evils. 


i8o    PREACHERS  AND  PREACHING 

DR.   LIDDON 

A  Gleam  of  the  Spirit. 

/CONSTRAINING  is  the  charm  exercised  by 
^^  those  who  can  lead  us,  every  time  they  preach, 
by  untravelled  lanes  into  unvisited  nooks,  who  can 
show  us  some  hidden  spot  in  the  mountains  of  truth 
that  front  us.  But  to  many  it  is  a  greater  thing  when 
they  see  a  new  beam  of  light  gild  the  solemn  array. 
This  his  words  did  at  times.  In  a  sermon  of  which 
all  the  rest  might  seem  ordinary  there  would  be  a 
sentence  which  woke  the  responses  of  the  diviner 
mind,  which  revealed  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  spirit 
and  the  glory  of  them,  which  opened  the  eyes  for  ever. 

HUGH  BLACK 

A  Preacher  with  Reserve. 


feel,  in  listening  to  Mr.  Black,  that  he  gives 
you  from  time  to  time  indications  of  power 
and  passion  carefully  kept  under  restraint.  The 
note  of  frugality  so  much  praised  by  our  mo  re  judicious 
critics  is  in  his  work,  but  it  is  not  the  frugality  of  a 
poor  man. 


IF.  IMMORTALITY 


"  I  believe  everything  that  I  have  written  about  immor- 
tality." 

Said  by  W.R.N.  a  few  days  before  his  passing. 


BEREAVEMENT 

"  Our  dead  have  not  forsaken  us.    However  it  may  seem  some- 
times, we  do  not  want  for  friends." 

Cry  of  the  Pilgrim. 

WHAT  if  this  life  is  our  Exile  and  Captivity, 
and  Death  our  Return  ? 

The  Blessed  Hope. 

TO  those  who  have  lived  much  in  the  life  of  the 
affections  there  comes  a  time  when  the  memory 
of  loss  is  little  more  than  a  promise  of  more  perfect 
gain. 

Courage  ! 

THE  first  thing  I  should  say  to  anyone  in  the 
dust  of  a  sudden  blow  is,  "  Hope  on."  I  am 
content  to  say  that  we  should  resolve  to  wait  and  see 
what  time  will  do  for  us.  Of  course  in  a  certain 
sense  time  does  nothing  at  all.  It  is  what  takes  place 
in  time  that  helps  us,  that  soothes  the  pain,  that  heals 
the  wound. 

A  Haunted  House. 

THAT  this  life  is  a  haunted  house  built  on  the 
very  confines  of  the  land  of  darkness  and  the 
shadow  of  death,  that  we  are  united  by  a  thousand 

183 


1 84  IMMORTALITY 

fibres  with  the  other  world,  is  denied  by  few.  The 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  in  his  undis- 
mayed way,  infinitely  extends  this  truth  for  all  who 
hold  his  faith. 


Looking  Beyond 

WHEN  we  do  our  best,  the  ideal  is  still  beyond  us 
to  chill  and  dishearten.  Yet  not  beyond  us, 
if  we  look  to  the  other  life,  to  our  breaking  through 
this  thraldom  of  the  flesh,  and  the  coming  to  pass  of 
the  strange  great  words,  "  We  shall  be  like  Him,  for 
we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is." 

Consolations  drawn  from  this  life  do  not  touch  what 
is  deepest  in  sorrow.  Time  can  heal  much,  but  there 
are  troubles  beyond  its  skill.  For  these  we  must  call 
in  eternity.  There  are  empty  places  which  must  be 
empty  till  the  angels'  faces  "smile  with  the  morn." 
There  are  agonies  in  the  presence  of  which  we  can 
only  say  that  all  sorrow  is  short-lived  enough.  It  is 
but  a  little  while.  Those  on  whom  life  and  death 
have  wreaked  their  worst  are  not  defeated  if  they  can 
look  beyond  to  their  "  triumph  o'er  grey  time." 

Meredith  on  Immortality. 

"  XT'OU  believe  in  it  ?  "  he  said.  "  But  for  my  part 
•*•  I  cannot  conceive  it.  Which  personality  is 
it  which  endures  ?  I  was  one  man  in  youth  and 
another  man  in  middle  age."  He  then  moved  his 
stick  in  the  ground  and  said,  "  I  have  been  this  and  this 


BEREAVEMENT  185 

and  this  and  this.  Which  is  it  that  is  immortal  ? " 
I  ventured  to  remind  him  of  what  John  Stuart  Mill  said 
about  the  persistence  of  the  ego.  He  said,  with  some 
vehemence,  "  I  do  not  feel  it.  I  have  never  felt  it. 
I  have  never  felt  the  unity  of  personality  running 
through  my  life.  I  have  been  " — this  with  a  smile — 
''  I  have  been  six  different  men  :  six  at  least.  No,'' 
he  said,  cc  I  cannot  conceive  personal  immortality." 
This  is  the  teaching  of  his  writings,  though  I  think 
there  are  hints  in  them  of  "  a  morn  beyond  mornings." 

In  the  Dark  Room. 

IN  the  heaviest  day  of  daze  and  death  there  is  for 
believers  a  fellowship  with  Christ  in  agony. 
Before  any  secret  of  providence  is  disclosed  ;  when 
the  softest  words  are  harsh  ;  when  the  heart  is  sealed 
and  inaccessible  to  any  earthly  comfort  ;  when  even 
prayer  for  the  moment  is  impossible,  Christ  is  in  the 
dark  room  with  the  soul  which  He  redeemed,  and 
which  He  keeps  alive.  There  is  not  happiness  ; 
there  is  not  the  hope  of  happiness  ;  but  there  is  the 
assurance  of  the  righteousness,  the  pity,  the  pardon 
of  the  Eternal  Love.  That  the  bleeding  heart  needs 
this,  and  is  content  with  this,  is  a  thought  and  emotion 
so  exalted  that  it  proves  itself  divine.  It  is  not  any 
poor,  earthly  cowardly  desire  for  happiness  and  ease. 
We  think  it  is  Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps  who  says  that 
the  ultimate  religious  tenderness  of  man  towards  God, 
so  high,  so  pure,  so  reasonable,  could  only  have  come 
from  God.  Whoever  said  it,  it  is  true.  A  believing 


1 86  IMMORTALITY 

pauper,  quite  solitary  on  earth  after  a  life  that  has 
stripped  her  bare,  kneeling  in  peaceful  affection  before 
Him  Whose  outward  gifts  have  been  so  few,  is  a  wit- 
ness to  the  victory  of  faith  over  the  world.  The 
vestibule  may  be  strait  and  lampless,  but  her  hand  is 
on  the  door. 

The  Help  of  Saints. 

T  ALWAYS  picture  Christ  standing  between  us 
-*•  and  holding  with  His  right  hand  so  many  of  His 
believers  and  with  His  left  hand  so  many.  He 
merges  us  with  them.  They  are  in  the  full  light,  and 
we  are  in  the  twilight.  But  we  both  hold  the  hand 
of  Christ,  and  constantly  from  the  left  hand  to  the 
right  hand  new  souls  are  passing.  Have  the  trium- 
phant saints  forgotten  those  who  are  still  fighting  the 
fight  of  faith  ?  Are  they  not  permitted  to  speak  to 
them  and  to  help  them  when  they  need  it  ?  We 
cannot  answer  the  question  definitely,  but  surely  it  is 
right  to  believe  that  for  the  joy  of  the  dead  they  are 
sometimes  permitted  to  hearten  and  succour  those 
whom  they  leave  unwillingly  to  the  toil  and  moil  of 
the  common  day. 

There  is  often  a  true  brotherhood  between  the 
faithful  living  and  the  faithful  dead,  and  it  is  never 
understood  so  completely  as  when  we  sit  at  the 
Lord's  Table  and  hear  Him  say,  "This  is  My 
Body  ;  this  is  My  Blood."  We  are  one  then  in  the 
communion  which  is  based  on  the  Redeemer's  atoning 
sacrifice.  We  lay  our  sins  on  Jesus,  the  spotless  Lamb 
of  God. 


BEREAVEMENT  187 

The  Sunshine  of  Heaven. 

TO  resist  temptation  is  to  choose  a  portion  with 
the  pure,  who,  as  in  our  inmost  hearts  we  know, 
must  in  the  end  triumph  openly.  All  that  is  sacred 
in  memory  and  in  affection  draws  us  from  pollution 
to  their  side.  How  many  has  the  thought  saved  : 
cc  If  I  am  to  spend  eternity  with  her,  I  must  spend  it 
in  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Yes  ;  the  further  pier  of  the  bridge  that  spans 
life  rests  on  the  unseen  shore.  This  life  is  much  as 
the  time  for  discipline,  for  preparation,  for  hearing  and 
obeying  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride.  But  it  is  little  as  the 
time  for  happiness,  for  success,  even  for  achievement. 
It  is  the  porch  dismantled  and  wind-blown,  yet  not 
uncheerful  if  there  falls  on  it  the  steady  sunshine  of  the 
other  world.  Only  thus  shall  we  touch  and  lift  the 
life  of  the  millions  who  say  with  the  factory-girl 
quoted  by  Dr.  Newman  :  "  I  think  if  this  should  be 
the  end  of  all  ;  and  if  all  I  have  been  born  for  is  just 
to  work  my  heart  and  life  away  in  this  dull  place,  with 
those  mill-stones  in  my  ears  for  ever,  until  I  could 
scream  out  for  them  to  stop  and  let  me  have  a  little 
quiet  :  with  my  mother  gone,  and  I  never  able  to  tell 
her  again  how  I  loved  her,  and  of  all  my  troubles — 
I  think  if  this  life  is  the  end  and  there  is  no  God  to 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  all  eyes  I  could  go  mad." 

The  Old  Light. 

TT7HAT  touched  our  souls  to  eternal   issues  is 

itself  eternal.     In  the  vast  realm  of  spirits 

none  can  be  to  us  what  these  are  that  came  nearest 


1 88  IMMORTALITY 

us  in  time.  The  very  thought  of  such  a  possibility 
is  profanation.  The  faded  sunsets,  the  dead  roses, 
we  forget.  New  lights  and  new  flowers  repeat  for 
us  the  past.  But  the  light  of  souls  cannot  be  borrowed 
or  repeated.  The  deep  heart  closes  over  its  grief,  and 
though  the  grave  be  green  and  smooth,  it  holds  the 
dead 


The  Precious  Promise. 

T  TE  repeats  His  promise.  He  says  it  to  a  world  of 
•••  •*•  partings  :  "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  for- 
sake thee."  He  says  it  to  a  world  of  heart-break  : 
"  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  thee."  He  says 
it  to  a  world  of  need  :  "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor 
forsake  thee."  He  says  it  to  a  world  of  weakness  and 
weariness  and  fear  :  "  I  will  never,  never  leave  thee  ; 
I  will  never,  no  never,  forsake  thee." 

At  the  End  of  the  Road. 

TT  is  possible  to  see  that  our  business  is  to  live,  that 
-*-  God  has  work  for  us,  even  if,  for  the  time  to  come, 
we  are  only  able  to  keep  pace  with  the  wounded.  If 
death  were  robbed  of  its  terrors — if  it  were,  as  it  might 
have  been,  the  crowning  joy  of  life — how  could  men 
go  on  living,  working,  waiting  ?  It  is  good  for  us  that 
Paradise,  according  to  the  deep  Eastern  saying,  should 
still  lie  under  the  shadow  of  swords. 

And   if  the   communion   could   be    resumed,    the 
whole  heart  would  be  drawn  away  from  the  present 


BEREAVEMENT  189 

life  and  its  duties.  Because  He  means  us  to  abide  for 
a  season,  the  sweet  voices  are  still.  Yet  He  remains, 
and  in  Him  there  is  union  with  those  lost  awhile. 
The  more  truly  our  fellowhsip  is  with  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  the  more  truly  is  it  with  them.  Who  shall 
say  that  through  Him  new  currents  of  covenanting 
love  may  not  even  yet  pass  between  us  ? 

"  I  know  Whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  per- 
suaded that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  committed 
unto  Him."  That  which  I  have  committed  unto 
Him.  Who  can  read  the  secrets  of  the  Apostle's 
soul  ?  How  much  is  coming  into  the  words  as  these 
mortal  years  run  out  !  But  we  know  the  end.  "  Do 
we  sink,"  said  Carlyle,  "  in  these  swamps,  amidst  the 
dance  of  dying  dreams  ?  "  No  ;  we  have  before  us 
no  treacherous  morass,  no  infinite  inane,  no  vague 
and  formless  mist,  but  at  the  end  of  a  short  road 
the  light,  the  warmth,  the  love,  the  welcome  of 
Home. 


For  Peace  In   Love. 

LIFE  is  a  continual  bereavement,  and  the  best 
treasures  and  the  best  affections  go  down  one 
by  one  into  the  grave.  Is  that  the  end  of  them  ?  Are 
we  never  to  find  them  again  ?  Are  we  always  to  be 
at  the  mercy  of  the  scent  of  a  flower,  or  the  sound  of 
a  bell,  or  a  fading  picture  ?  True  love,  as  St.  Ber- 
nard says,  very  deeply,  gathers  not  strength  from  hope. 
But  for  peace  in  love  there  must  be  hope  of  a  meeting 
beyond  the  sea. 


190  IMMORTALITY 

Favourite  Lines. 

WE  believe  these  lines  that  follow  are  undoubtedly 
the  finest  Mrs.   Clive  ever  wrote,  perhaps 
the  most  poetical  rendering  of  the  great  Resurrection 
fact  anywhere  to  be  found — though  this  is  saying 
much. 

"  One  place  alone  had  ceas'd  to  hold  its  prey  ; 

A  form  had  press' d  it,  and  was  there  no  more  ; 
The  garments  of  the  grave  beside  it  lay, 

Where  once  they  wrapp'd  Him  on  the  rocky  floor. 

He  only  with  returning  footsteps  broke 
Th'  eternal  calm  wherewith  the  tomb  was  bound  ; 

Among  the  sleeping  dead  alone  He  woke, 

And  bless'd  with  outstretch'd  hands  the  host  around." 


The  Promise  of  May. 

THE  companionship  that  made  life  a  holy  and 
happy  thing  was  cut  short  just  at  the  opening. 
The  plans  with  which  the  eager  heart  teemed  all  came 
to  nothing.  What  forces  of  thought  and  love  we  have 
seemed  to  spend  in  vain  !  Are  there  wounds  that 
cannot  be  healed,  losses  that  cannot  be  made  good, 
griefs  that  cannot  be  forgotten  ?  The  answer  is  in 
the  prophecy  of  May — of  everlasting  spring  and  un- 
withering  flowers. 

Here  the  winter  comes  back  after  the  spring,  and 
we  tremble  lest  we  be  too  happy.  The  envious 
heavens,  we  think,  will  be  tempted  to  strike  down  upon 
our  bliss,  and  over  the  whole  world  lies  the  shadow 
of  turning.  But  God  meant  us  to  be  happy,  perfectly 


BEREAVEMENT  191 

blessed  to  all  eternity.  The  ransomed  of  the  Lord 
shall  return  and  come  to  Zion,  with  songs  and  ever- 
lasting joy  on  their  heads.  Joy  and  gladness — that 
have  flown  so  high  above,  so  far  in  front — we  shall 
come  up  with  them  at  last  and  hold  them  in  our  hands, 
"  their  wings  covered  with  silver  and  their  feathers 
with  yellow  gold,"  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee 
away — the  night  birds  down  the  night. 


How  to  Endure. 

*  I  VHE  anguish  of  bereavement,  the  profound  stir- 
-*•  ring  of  the  emotions  when  we  think  of  the  life 
into  which  has  already  passed  so  much  that  was  very 
part  of  our  own  being,  lies  in  the  fact  that  we  are 
parted,  though  it  is  but  for  a  time. 

The  compensation  is  that  we  see  and  hear  Jesus, 
that  we  can  speak  to  Him  and  receive  his  reply,  that 
He  will  fill  our  weak  and  restless  hearts,  if  we  ask  Him, 
with  His  own  strength  and  peace. 


The  Most  Lonely. 

FT  is  a  consolation  that  God  takes  for  His  peculiar 
•*•  charge  those  who  are  left  most  lonely  and  help- 
less, and  a  little  experience  of  life  will  show  that  His 
Providence  is  a  living  fact.  But  Jesus  knows  all  that 
the  bereaved  have  to  suffer.  He  comprehends  the 
longings  of  the  famished  heart.  He  knows  what  it 
is  to  feel  as  if  life  must  henceforth  be  endured,  not 


1 92  IMMORTALITY 

any  longer  lived.  He  knows  the  first  fever  of  feeling, 
and  the  terrible  reaction  when  the  stricken  souls  long 
for  the  duties  from  which  they  are  now  so  sadly  free. 
He  knows  how  often  when  work  begins  the  sense  of 
desolation  increases,  till  nothing  is  left  for  weary  weeks 
but  the  grey  comfort  of  thinking  that  the  end  is  not 
so  very  far  away.  But  He  knows  also  that  all  is  not 
told  when  the  outward  circumstances  are  known  or 
guessed  at.  We  never  know  till  we  know  Himself. 
Then  we  understand  how  in  the  darkest  hour  the 
path  may  open  like  a  shaft  of  light  to  the  Heart  of  all 
Comfort.  Christ  knew  that  God  had  to  be  trusted, 
and  that  His  soft  hand  would  draw  together  the  edges 
of  the  wound. 


Couragey  Poor  Heart  of  Stone  ! 

ET  troubled  and  lonely  hearts  take  fresh  courage. 


L 


They  may  have  to  go  softly  all  their  years.  The 
voices  that  once  thrilled  them  are  for  the  moment 
past  hearing.  But  when  death  brings  us  closer  to  God 
we  shall  know  that  He  has  been  in  all  ways  just  and 
faithful  and  loving  to  us.  With  what  a  rush  our 
spirits  will  run  to  reunite  themselves  with  the  beloved  ! 
They,  too,  will  make  haste  to  meet  us,  and  in  utter 
thankfulness  and  humility  we  with  them  shall  claim 
the  Redeemer  as  our  Lord  and  Friend,  and  fall  at  the 
feet  of  perfect  Goodness,  perfect  Purity,  and  perfect 
Love. 


BEREAVEMENT  193 

After  AIL 

TT  7"E  know  how  in  the  heaviest  afflictions  there 
is  almost  always  something  left  to  hold  by, 
something  to  live  for.  Yet  there  may  be  a  desolation 
which  is  humanly  complete.  Even  then  a  spring  of 
joy  remains.  "  I  am  with  you  all  the  days,"  and  the 
joy  in  Christ  is  to  persist,  though  all  the  other  lights 
are  blown  out.  So  it  may  be,  so  it  has  been.  This 
is  not  a  dream,  however  it  may  seem  to  be  one. 

"  In  Memoriam  " 

IT  is  worth  noting,  that  Tennyson,  so  far  as  the 
record  goes,  had  no  supreme  friend  after  A.  H. 
Hallam.  I  doubt  whether  he  had  any  woman  friend 
even.  a  In  Memoriam"  was,  in  the  full  sense  of  the 
word,  a  sincere  book,  for  it  commemorated  an  affec- 
tion for  which  the  writer  never  found  any  substitute. 
By  the  way,  has  it  been  sufficiently  remarked  that 
"  In  Memoriam "  makes  but  a  limited  appeal  to  the 
bereaved  ?  Its  intensity  has  carried  it  through  ;  but 
when  we  think  of  it,  we  shall  see  that  the  bereavements 
in  life  that  leave  aching,  unhealed  wounds  are  not  of 
the  type  Tennyson  commemorates. 

What  must  be  Faced. 

T  T  is  not  true  that  people  get  over  everything.  Many 
-*-  die  of  grief,  but  the  greater  number  of  those  who 
are  not  cured  are  altered.  Mrs.  Oliphant  expresses 
it  best.  She  says  that  after  the  loss  of  her  little 


i94  IMMORTALITY 

daughter  she  became  another  being — better,  perhaps, 
in  some  ways  than  she  had  been,  but  different.  All  of 
life  is  set  to  a  lower  key  ;  the  mind  takes  a  darker 
colour.  Work  remains,  and,  it  may  be,  pleasure,  and 
success,  and  friendship,  and  love,  but  it  is  never  as  it 
has  been.  One  day  cuts  through  life  like  a  plough- 
share. Grief,  like  love,  is  apt  to  go  on. 


DEATH 

"  Though  it  seems  for  the  time  as  if  the  whole  story  of  life, 
embroider  and  adorn  it  as  we  may,  is  love,  loss,  and  grief,  yet 
at  the  deathbed  there  is  oftentimes  a  '  wind-warm '  space  of 
love,  during  which  the  soul  knows  that  things  are  not  what  they 
seem,  and  that  though  bond  after  bond  is  apparently  being  broken, 
the  ties  of  the  everlasting  union  are  tested  and  hold.  Words  of 
love  spring  up  from  the  deep  and  secret  wells  of  the  spirit.  Christ 
is  made  known  to  His  people,  and  they  confess  that  His  right 
hand,  through  which  the  great  nails  went,  doeth  valiantly,  and 
is  exalted  in  the  waste  and  wreck  of  death." 


The  Thief  and  the  Dawn 

longer  an  outcast  of  Gehenna,  no  longer 
racked  and  forlorn,  the  thief  drank  of  the 
spiritual  Rock  beside  him,  and  that  Rock  was  Christ. 
Already  he  had  burst  the  shell  of  the  mortal,  and  was 
of  those  over  whom  the  second  death  hath  no  power. 
Before  Christ  lay  the  morning  of  the  eternal  open 
world,  and  the  shadows  of  this  narrow  life  had  vanished 
too  from  the  heart  that  nestled  in  His  promise.  Ere 
night,  Jesus,  and  the  child  God  gave  Him,  had  entered 
on  that  Day,  fresh  as  morning,  tender  as  eve,  "  which 
hours  no  more  offend." 

The  Power  of  Jesus. 

T  TE  came  and  laid  His  hand  on  the  bier,  and  the 
•*•  -*•  dead  wood  thrilled  and  quivered  at  the  touch. 
That  Hand  !  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath 

195 


196  IMMORTALITY 

given  all  things  into  His  Hand.  That  Hand,  the  Hand 
that  was  to  be  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and 
bruised  for  our  iniquities.  That  Hand  not  yet  nailed  ! 
And  He  said  :  "  Young  man,  I  say  unto  thee,  arise. 
Arise."  And  he  that  was  dead  sat  up,  and  began  to 
speak.  Is  not  this  the  Saviour  we  need  ?  The 
Saviour  Who  is  a  barrier  against  the  drift  of  death. 
Shall  we  not  say  :  cc  Lo,  this  is  our  God.  We  have 
waited  for  Him,  and  He  will  save  us."  His  compas- 
sions fail  not.  He  tarrieth  not  for  man,  nor  waits 
for  the  son  of  man.  He  speaks  and  it  is  done. 
He  commands  and  it  stands  fast.  The  mother 
made  only  the  mute  appeal  of  her  sorrow,  but 
He  needed  no  more.  The  fulness  of  His  life 
streamed  out  for  a  moment,  and  the  young  man  rose 
and  spoke. 

The  Christian  Jetton 

/CHRISTIANITY  will  help  us  to  meet  enforced 
^^  inaction.  It  will  help  us  more  easily,  no  doubt, 
if  we  have  laboured  while  we  could.  Then  we  can 
reflect  in  the  long,  passive  hours  that  "  of  toil  and 
moil  the  day  was  full."  Even  if  the  cherished  work 
has  been  forbidden,  if  it  has  been  hardly  begun,  or  not 
begun  at  all,  the  depression  of  failure  may  very  well  be 
banished  by  the  thought  of  an  undying  life  in  God. 
After  all,  we  are  never  old  till  we  feel  old,  and  no- 
body feels  old  until  he  feels  that  his  work  is  done.  So 
long  as  there  is  in  us  some  faculty  hidden  from  day- 
light, some  capacity  still  unrevealed,  some  work  still 


DEATH  197 

to  accomplish,  we  are  young,  and  faith  looks  to  the 
future  life  as  the  development  and  completion  of  this. 
The  night  taper,  says  one,  burns  long  enough  if  it 
lets  in  the  Eternal  Day.  There  may  be,  there  doubt- 
less is,  a  momentary  pang  in  surrendering  some  kinds 
of  work  to  which  we  thought  ourselves  specially 
elected,  and  yet  in  these  things  also  God  is  worthy  of 
our  trust.  Perhaps  there  is  no  such  unspeakably 
pathetic  resignation  as  that  of  a  mother  parting  from 
her  children.  And  yet  every  day  with  what  victorious 
faith  is  this  care  cast  upon  God  !  Schiller,  on  his 
premature  deathbed,  kissed  and  blessed  his  youngest 
child  of  seven  months  old,  and  gazed  at  the  helpless 
creature  with  yearning  tenderness.  Yet  a  little  while 
later,  when  they  asked  him  how  he  felt,  he  said, 
"  Calmer  and  calmer."  Is  there  any  better  prepara- 
tion for  life  and  death  than  that  of  the  girded  loins 
and  the  burning  lamp  ? 


The  Death  of  the  Lord. 

T  TE  was  unconquered  by  death.      His  death  was 

•*•  •*•  the  Lord's  death  and  the  Lord's  doing.  He 
foresaw  and  meant  it  from  the  first.  When  it  came 
He  went  to  meet  it  not  as  a  Stoic  with  iron  will  refusing 
to  wince,  nor  as  one  superior  in  all  but  power,  and  yet 
giving  power  its  due.  Death  met  Him  at  the  trysting- 
place  He,  and  not  death,  had  chosen.  It  had  no  power 
at  all  over  His  soul,  and  none  over  His  body  save  what 
He  gave  it.  None  could  tear  away  the  garment  of 
His  mortality  j  but  when  the  hour  struck,  He  folded 


198  IMMORTALITY 

up  His  life  like  a  vesture,  and  it  was  changed  The 
Holy  Thing  that  slept  in  Joseph's  grave  held  the 
myriad  forces  of  corruption  at  bay  till  the  soul  re- 
turned. Then  He  awakened,  and  lifted  up  His 
pierced  Hands  and  blessed  the  sleepers  at  His  side — 
whose  sleep  was  to  be  so  long — whose  waking  was  so 
sure 


No  Make-believe. 

T  TOPE  in  the  Old  Testament  often  means  simply 
•*--•-  a  fixed  gaze.  There  comes  an  hour  when  all 
striving  is  idle,  when  we  must  simply  look  up  at  the 
sky,  now  pitiless,  clear,  cloudless,  but  near  changing. 
When  our  wills  lie  bowed  like  reeds  in  the  river,  the 
strongest  current  will  not  break  them — even  the 
current  that  would  snap  opposing  bands  of  iron.  We 
have  no  make-believe  about  death.  Christianity  has 
nothing  to  do  with  illusions.  It  is  always  thankful. 
Faith  sees  all  the  hard  things  of  life  as  good  and  accept- 
able and  perfect  in  the  Will  of  God.  Through  the 
dullest  web  of  existence  it  can  shoot  the  shining 
strands  that  make  it  triumphant,  peaceful,  strong. 
It  knows  that  there  is  a  soul  of  sweetness  in  all  the 
bitter  things  whereby  God  prepares  His  children  for 
their  great  Passover.  It  fortifies  itself  meanwhile 
by  continually  ascending  to  the  Source  of  Sacrificial 
Life.  La  force  est  aux  sources — the  strength  of  our 
cause  is  at  the  Fountain-head,  and  we  go  there 
to  seek  it 


DEATH  199 

Its  Suddenness. 

WE  are  from  time  to  time  made  to  realise  that 
the  ground  beneath  us  which  seems  so  solid 
and  substantial  is  as  unstable  as  any  gossamer. 

At  the  Worst  Moment. 

WE  know  that  the  Father  has  sanctioned  the  very 
blow  we  find  it  so  hard  to  bear.  By  faith  we 
are  able  to  give  thanks  on  our  Calvary,  in  the  misery 
of  lonely  tears,  watching  by  the  dearest  asleep  in 
their  deep  sleep.  To  say  then.  Magnificat  anima 
mea^  is  to  be  under  the  benediction  of  the  Cross,  to 
offer  in  very  truth  the  sacrifice  of  praise. 

Death  a  Sleep. 

OT.  PAUL  himself  recognised  that  death  was  the 
^  last  enemy  to  meet  Christ  in  the  field  and  to  be 
destroyed.  And  yet  so  absolute  was  Christ's  victory 
over  death  that  in  the  New  Testament  it  is  spoken  of  as 
sleep. 

The  Little  Hills  in  the  Churchyard. 

WE  know  that  for  the  Christian  there  is  no  death  ; 
that  Christ  by  rising  again,  the  firstfruits  of 
His  sleeping  people,  has  plucked  the  sting  from  death 
and  spoiled  the  victory  of  the  grave  ;  and  so  we  can 
look  calmly  at  it,  and  have  peace — peace  by  the  death- 
beds of  our  dear  ones,  peace  when  our  own  life  is 
slipping  away  from  us,  peace  as  we  stand  by  the  grave 


200  IMMORTALITY 

where  already  we  have  two  or  three  gathered  together 
in  His  name,  peace  in  the  thought  that  they  all  live 
to  God,  peace  in  the  hope  of  the  day  to  be  when  the 
little  hills  in  the  churchyard  shall  rejoice  on  every  side 
— at  the  voice  of  the  archangel  and  the  trump  of  God. 
For  Christ  has  abolished  death. 

The  Church  in  the  Churchyard 

WHERE  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in 
His  Name  under  the  sod,  there  is  Christ  in 
the  midst  of  them. 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY 

"  We  are  come  to  Zion,  the  city  of  the  living  God.  I  do  not 
know  who  may  be  praying  for  me  in  the  General  Assembly  and 
Church  of  the  first-born.  I  think  there  are  some.  I  am  sure  I 
am  not  too  bold  in  saying  I  know  there  is  One,  the  Intercessor 
Whose  pleadings  know  no  pause." 

Life  there  More  Real. 

TTENRY  DRUMMOND'S  departure  for  the  new 
•*•  -*•  country  has  made  the  other  life  for  many,  in 
an  unspeakable  degree,  more  real  and  more  winsome. 

The  Fortress-home. 

T7RIENDS  fail  us,  death  takes  our  truest,  and  yet 
•*•  we  can  count  on  that  love  which  is  constant  in  all 
worlds,  through  all  years,  that  love  in  which  the  dead 
are  living  and  the  lost  are  found,  that  love  which  does 
not  die  when  we  die,  that  does  not  cease  to  care  when 
we  can  care  no  longer,  that  love  in  which  we  and  our 
beloved  dwell  as  in  a  fortress-home. 

The  Christian  Journey. 

WHAT  a  story  the  life  of  every  Christian  here 
has  been  !     Shall  we  in  heaven  be  able  to 
look  back  on  the  steps  of  the  way  ?     The  Welsh 
hymn  has  it  : 

"  From  Salem's  high  walls  we  shall  witness 
The  windings  of  life's  river  through." 

201 


202  IMMORTALITY 

Shall  we  see  the  journey  in  all  its  stages,  and  say  to 
ourselves,  "  At  this  point  I  very  nearly  gave  up,  at 
this  point  I  very  nearly  went  astray,  at  this  point  I  was 
very  weary  in  well-doing,  at  this  point  that  night  was 
black  over  my  head  ?  "  Yet  all  that  is  over  and  told 
for  ever. 


In  the  City  of  Peace. 

/  I  VO  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  peace, 
•*•  the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  go  up  from  all  the 
lands  of  life.  And  if  we  are  Christ's,  received  into  the 
communion  of  the  Redeemer  and  His  righteousness, 
we  shall  feel  that  this  and  this  only  is  our  true  home, 
and  we  shall  draw  near  to  it,  not  timidly,  not  shrink- 
ingly,  but  with  eager  desire,  as  those  who  are  no  more 
strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow-citizens  with  the 
saints  and  of  the  household  of  God.  As  we  under- 
stand the  depth  of  the  final  rest,  we  grow  reconciled 
to  our  bereavements.  It  seems  indeed  more  natural 
that  the  beloved  should  be  withdrawn  from  us  than  that 
they  should  ever  have  been  at  our  side. 

Expected  Guests. 

THE  home  to  which  He  brings  them  is  prepared, 
and  by  His  own  hands.  To  die  is  not  to  pass 
into  the  wide,  grey,  lampless,  deep,  unpeopled  dark- 
ness. When  a  child  is  born  on  earth  into  a  loving 
home,  how  much  thought  and  affection  have  gone 
into  preparation  for  its  coming  ?  It  enters  feeble  and 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY  203 

ignorant  into  an  unknown  world.  But  for  every  want 
there  has  been  already  a  provident  care.  So,  but  far 
more  abundantly,  is  there  a  preparation  made  for  us 
in  the  other  life.  They  are  waiting  for  us  there. 
We  are  ushered  with  the  divinest  tenderness  into  our 
own  place.  What  welcome  is  too  rapturous  for  the 
soul  that  has  trusted  Christ,  and  has  been  carried  to 
God  in  His  arms  ? 

Ever  since  Jesus  left  this  world,  He  has  been  pre- 
paring and  receiving  in  the  other. 


The  Care  of  God. 

I  BELIEVE  that  the  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in 
the  hands  of  God,  and  that  there  shall  no  torment 
touch  them.  I  believe  that  our  care  was  ungentle, 
and  our  love  untender,  and  our  sympathy  imperfect, 
compared  to  that  which  they  have  in  His  keeping  who 
is  their  God  and  our  God.  If  it  were  otherwise,  I 
should  find  no  refuge  in  earth  or  in  heaven. 

Who  shall  go  over  the  sea  for  us  ?  We  do  not  need 
to  put  the  question.  There  is  One  who  has  gone 
over  the  sea  for  us,  and  returned.  Read  the  holy 
history  of  Jesus  Christ — of  His  life,  His  passion,  His 
Death,  His  Resurrection,  His  return  to  earth,  His 
Ascension  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father.  Here  we 
have  our  all-sufficing  answer.  He  went  over  the  sea 
for  us,  over  the  waves  and  billows  of  death,  and  re- 
turned— returned  to  Mary,  to  Peter,  to  Thomas,  to 
five  hundred  brethren  long  asleep. 


204  IMMORTALITY 

Visible  and  Invisible. 

WE  have  our  place  in  the  world  that  can  never 
crumble  to  dust.  The  kingdom  which 
cannot  be  moved  is  about  us  now.  It  glimmers 
through  the  show  of  things.  We  have  been  trans- 
lated into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son,  and  the 
importunate  and  ever-shifting  objects  of  sense  do  not 
blind  us  to  its  glories.  It  is  written — and  we  know  it — 
that  even  here  and  now  we  are  come  to  the  living 
God,  His  City,  His  angels,  and  His  people,  to 
Jesus,  the  Mediator  of  a  fresh  covenant,  and  the 
blood  of  sprinkling  which  speaketh  better  than  Abel. 
Nay,  the  visible  shrinks  and  pales  for  the  enrichment 
of  the  invisible,  and  the  departed  are  no  more  silent 
at  our  feet,  but  singing  overhead.  But  ere  we  inherit 
all  things  this  mortal  must  put  on  immortality,  and  the 
thin  veil  through  which  shines  the  light  of  the  seven 
lamps  of  fire  must  be  taken  away. 

Our  Dearest  and  Best. 

THERE  is  nothing  Christian  in  the  view  that  we 
ought  to  have  no  special  love  for  any  human 
being,  but  love  all  in  God  and  God  in  all.  The  Divine 
Heart,  in  Whose  affections  none  were  crowded  or 
jostled,  "  loved  Martha,  and  her  sister,  and  Lazarus." 
Yet  it  is  by  virtue  of  the  spiritual  bond  that  love 
endures.  When  our  thoughts  pass  beyond  the  veil, 
we  realise  that  the  true  union  is  harmony  of  feeling  ; 
that  we  have  our  meeting  in  the  common  love  of 
Christ.  We  are  nearest  our  dead  when  our  thoughts 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY  205 

take  the  unchangeable  direction  of  theirs.  Then,  in 
a  true  communion,  we  come  to  the  perfect  in  their 
perfection,  to  an  intercourse  which  is  all  Christian, 
to  where  our  loved  ones,  in  Fletcher  of  Madeley's 
words,  "  blossom  and  shine  in  the  primeval  excellence 
allotted  to  them  by  their  gracious  Creator."  Between 
our  love  for  them  and  our  love  for  Christ  there  is  no 
disharmony.  If  the  Saviour  said  in  dying,  "  And  now 
I  come  to  Thee  "  ;  if  His  strong  Apostle  desired  "  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  very  far  better  "  ; 
it  is  no  sin  in  weaker  souls  if  they  anticipate  the  wel- 
come of  the  gentle  and  familiar  faces  whose  radiance 
will  shine  on  them  always.  For  it  is  the  golden 
threads  of  love  which  gleam  through  the  mingled 
texture  of  our  human  life,  that  sign  in  it  the  name  of 
God. 


They  Remember  and  Wait. 

without  us  shall  not  be  made  perfect "  ; 
they  without  us  "  could  not,  if  we  might 
dare  to  say  it,  be  made  perfect  even  by  the  love  of  God. 
The  perfection  of  the  blessed  dead  cannot  be  achieved 
till  the  living  they  wait  for  come.  We  feel  that  we 
are  not  worthy  now  to  loose  their  shoe-latchet,  or  to 
touch  their  garments'  hem  ;  but  since  love  is  love, 
that  must  not  trouble  us.  While  they  complete  them- 
selves in  regions  beyond  our  view,  we  are  to  remember 
them,  to  look  for  them,  to  prepare  for  them.  We 
must  try  to  keep  the  straight  path,  so  far  as  we  can 
see  it,  to  seek  that  we  may  reach  the  spirit-land  unsoiled 


206  IMMORTALITY 

and  noble.  They  remember  us,  they  wait  for  us,  they 
will  welcome  us.  They  are  saying,  if  we  had  ears  to 
hear,  "  Dearly  beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy  and 
crown  ;  so  stand  fast  in  the  Lord,  my  dearly  beloved." 

Joy  of  the  Blessed  Dead. 

TP\O  we  remember  that  women  in  heaven  are 
-*^  always  receiving  their  dead  ?  They  are  ex- 
pecting them,  and  they  are  welcoming  them.  The 
happiness  of  the  blessed  is  buoyant  and  elastic,  not 
passionless,  dreamless,  changeless. 

We  have  all  felt  when  some  died  that  it  was  only 
as  it  should  be,  that  they  were  more  needed  in  the 
other  world  even  than  they  could  be  in  this,  that  some 
heart  had  a  greater  claim  upon  them,  and  could  not  be 
content  without  them,  and  it  has  seemed  as  if  their 
welcome  must  not  be  delayed  any  longer,  and  as  if  it 
were  left  to  us  simply  for  the  future  to  make  sure  that 
we  are  come  to  the  innumerable  company  of  angels, 
and  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect.  The  joys  of 
the  angels  we  know  are  made  more  poignant  and  keen 
by  the  repentance  of  souls.  The  joys  of  the  blessed 
dead  are  immeasurably  heightened  by  the  receiving 
of  their  own. 

"  Smiling  in  the  old  forms" 

IT  is  in  his  interpretation  of  the  closing  lines  that 
we    really   differ   from    Dr.    Zelie.     He   says  : 
"  What  were  the  angel  faces  which  he  had  loved  long 
since  and  lost  awhile  ?  "     He  replies  that  they  were  the 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY  207 

earliest  and  best  of  his  first  purposes  and  ambitions 
and  visions.  "  Reunion  with  faded  interests  and  lost 
ideals  and  possibilities,  of  which  we  sometimes  have 
hardly  the  heart  to  think,  is  the  reunion  to  which  the 
hymn  seems  to  point,  and  with  that  every  other  re- 
covery seems  both  sure  and  possible."  Dr.  Zelie  is 
eloquent  in  his  exposition  of  this  view,  but  we  cannot 
accept  it.  Say  rather  that  the  lines  mean  what  they 
seem  to  mean.  The  brighter  ideals  of  early  life  are 
poor  and  narrow  and  dim.  As  we  pass  on  out  of  the 
gloom  and  into  the  day  we  see  them  tarnished  and 
faded.  Higher  ideals  will  meet  us  on  the  holy  hill  of 
God.  But  there  are  the  beloved  who  belonged  to  our 
youth  and  are  now  out  of  reach,  and  the  pilgrims,  if 
left  lonely,  crave  to  behold  them  again.  One  chief 
solace  of  the  journey  is  that  with  each  step  we  are 
nearing  them.  So  many  whom  we  love  are  there, 
the  nearest  and  the  dearest,  fathers,  mothers,  brothers, 
sisters,  friends,  and  perhaps  strangest  of  all,  the  chil- 
dren who,  as  we  hoped,  would  take  our  places  and  bear 
our  names  on  earth.  The  pilgrimage  is  towards  them 
and  Christ  and  the  morning.  We  look  to  see  them 
smiling  in  the  old  forms,  touched  with  an  immortal 
brightness  in  the  presence  of  the  Redeemer,  when  we 
have  taken  leave  of  death  and  darkness  for  good  and 
all. 

Very  Far  Better 

WE  shall  see   Him  as  He  is,  and  we  shall  be 
like    Him.     Disclosures    incomparably  more 
vivid  and  more  potent  than  we  have  ever  dreamed  of 


2o8  IMMORTALITY 

will  be  granted  us  when  the  earthly  house  of  this 
Tabernacle  is  dissolved.  The  soul  will  be  encircled 
and  absorbed  in  the  consciousness  of  God.  "  With 
Christ "  is  the  one  piercing  word  that  tears  clear  the 
whole  clouded  heaven  to  the  Apostle — "  With  Christ, 
which  is  very  far  better."  Who  shall  tell  what  is 
covered  by  the  word  "  very  far  "  ?  Whatever  it  is, 
it  is  enough.  "  With  great  mercies  will  I  gather 
thee,"  is  the  divine  sentence  whispered  to  the  soul. 
A  spiritual  operation,  it  is  said,  demands  a  spiritual 
energy.  Yes,  but  this  spiritual  energy  is  exerted  on 
certain  conditions,  and  these  conditions  are  realised 
in  dying.  There  is  then  the  entire  union  of  the  human 
and  the  divine.  For  our  part,  we  take  no  interest 
in  the  speculations  as  to  the  rationale  of  this  transfor- 
mation. We  may  say  with  Delitzsch  that  the  sancti- 
fying power  of  faith  bursts  forth  at  death,  and  that  the 
sight  of  the  reality  of  what  is  believed  will  wipe  out  all 
sin.  We  may  add  with  Phillippi  that  a  creative, 
miraculous  act  of  God  always  coincides  in  the  death 
of  true  believers.  But  the  air  is  too  rarefied.  It  is 
wise  rather  to  raise  our  thoughts  to  the  few  illuminated 
points  in  the  mysterious  region,  the  suns  and  planets 
which  light  up  the  darkness,  and  for  the  rest  to  lean 
upon  God,  and  look  with  calmness  into  the  mysteries 
which  He  still  leaves  so  deep  around  us.  These 
untravelled  worlds  are  more  immediately  than  this 
within  the  region  of  God's  rule,  and  we  shall  find 
within  them  when  the  time  comes  the  fullness  of 
content. 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY  209 

With  Open  Eyes. 

7  I  VHERE  is  another  experience  which  can  never 
•*•  be  forgotten.  The  veil  of  night  is  suddenly 
lifted,  and  all  the  wild  longings  of  unavailing  years  are 
in  a  moment  stilled.  Some  of  us  can  remember  the 
day  when  the  steady,  silent  heartache  of  disappoint- 
ment vanished,  and  we  looked  on  the  past  with  peace, 
and  the  sore  heart  was  healed.  There  are  fairer 
lands  than  Bithynia,  and  God  may  bring  us  in  and 
fill  our  mouth  with  laughter  and  our  tongue  with 
singing. 

But  we  must  be  in  Jerusalem,  in  our  Mother's 
arms,  before  we  see  all,  before  we  see  that  in  all 
points  God  was  just  and  faithful  and  loving.  "  Most 
of  our  prayers,"  said  Thomas  Boston,  "  are 
answered  in  the  other  world,  and  they  are  answered 
all  at  once." 

We  "  shall  wake  and  remember — and  understand." 


The  Supreme  Moment. 

THE  threshold  has  been  crossed,  the  soul  that 
has  entered  into  the  city  is  beholding  the  Won- 
der of  its  wonders.     The  Stone  which  the  builders 
refused   is  become  the   Head   Stone  of  the  corner. 
"  I  will  praise  Thee,  for  Thou  hast  heard  me,  and  art 
become  my  salvation."     The  spirit  catches  at  broken 
reeds  no  more.     It  sees  the  lilies  that  flower  above 
them.     It  lets  the  world  go,  and  takes  love. 
1—14 


210  IMMORTALITY 

The  Lord  and  the  Thief. 

*  I  NHE  Lord's  ear  was  very  heavy,  but  not  heavy 
-*•  that  it  could  not  hear  the  thief.  His  arm  was 
shortened,  nailed  to  the  wood,  but  not  shortened  that 
it  could  not  save.  That  day  the  Lord  and  the 
thief  were  together  in  the  new  country.  If  thou  seek 
Him  He  will  be  found  of  thee.  Before  we  speak  He 
calls,  that  we  may  turn  round  to  Him  and  say,  "  When 
Thou  saidst,  Seek  ye  My  Face,  my  heart  said  unto 
Thee,  Thy  Face,  Lord,  will  I  seek." 

Together 

IN  our  harsh,  fighting,  earthly  days,  love  was  much 
to  us,  but  it  was  limited.  It  struggled  often  for 
expression.  It  was  frequently  darkened  by  misunder- 
standing, and  only  now  and  then  did  it  attain  a  heavenly 
completeness.  Those  times  we  all  look  back  upon  as 
the  only  times  when  we  really  lived  fully,  and  drew 
the  breath  of  the  eternal  world.  Our  beloved  dead  are 
waiting  as  eagerly  to  tell  us  their  story  as  we  are  to 
tell  them  ours.  We  shall  be  together  in  days  of  loyal 
life  when  all  failures  of  the  past  may  be  forgotten,  just 
as  though  no  break  had  been  at  all.  How  well  it  is 
with  the  dead  !  How  happy  we  should  be  if  they 
"  look  us  through  and  through  "  !  They  are  not 
to  be  sought  in  unshared  deeps  through  which  their 
spirits  wander  fatigued.  The  companions  of  the 
devout  life  are  but  removed,  as  it  were,  a  hand's- 
breadth  from  us,  but  they  without  us  shall  not  be  made 
perfect.  We  cannot  think  of  them  as  they  were 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY  211 

when  sinking  under  the  weight  of  illness  and  broken 
with  the  burden  of  the  years.  Nay,  we  think  of  them 
as  satisfied  with  good  things  and  crowned  with  loving- 
kindness,  so  that  their  youth  is  renewed  like  the  eagle's. 

Healed  and  Nourished. 

TT  will  be  a  life  of  joy.  The  blessed  dead  have  had 
-*•  too  many  failures,  too  many  wounds.  Heaven 
will  be  a  place  of  healing  where  God  keeps  all  the 
treasures  that  He  gave  and  that  we  let  fall.  The 
spirit  will  be  nourished  with  constant  influxes  of  divine 
blessedness  and  constant  new  visions  of  God.  The 
body  will  know  no  weariness,  will  need  no  repose, 
will  have  impressed  on  it  no  necessity  of  dying.  All 
these  things  are  left  behind.  Most  of  the  saints  were 
very  weary  when  they  sank  into  their  last  sleep,  but 
they  will  never  know  weariness  in  the  eternity  to 
come. 

Unchanged. 

TT  is  certain  that  we  shall  know  them  in  the  world 
•*•  of  Eternity  as  we  knew  them — and  far  better 
than  we  knew  them — in  the  world  of  Time.  What 
endures  is  the  love  and  trust  that  bound  us. 

"  Them  that  are  asleep" 

/CONCERNING  them  that  are  awake  .  .  the 
^^  enterprising  Press  will  collect  all  the  informa- 
tion that  is  possible  and  supply  all  the  comment  that  is 


2i2  IMMORTALITY 

needful.  "  Concerning  them  that  are  asleep  "  ...  no 
one  can  speak  with  authority,  save  from  the  Book  of 
God.  If  the  preacher  only  knew  it,  his  hearers  care 
most  to  know  about  those  who  are  beyond  their  ken, 
to  see  the  open  vista  of  eternity,  to  have  revealed  the 
wonder  and  the  bloom  of  another  world  than  this, 
to  follow  the  white  sails  rounding  the  white  misty 
capes  of  death. 


Sweet  Certainty. 

TF  we  open  the  windows  of  the  heart  towards  the 
-**  Heavenly  Jerusalem  we  shall  hear  the  song  on  the 
crystal  sea.  We  shall  behold  the  walls  and  towers 
bright  with  perpetual  sunshine.  We  shall  know  the 
city  for  our  own  true  home  and  mother,  and  antici- 
pate with  an  interior  sweetness  of  certainty  the  New 
Year  of  the  Resurrection. 


"  //  is  not  so  sad" 

THE  dead  have  left  us  ;    but  they  have  not  for- 
saken us.     They  have  left  us,  and  we  thrill 
to  the  heart  of  hearts  with  the  memory  of  their  going. 

"  Oh,  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still !  " 

and  the  unreturning  grace  of  a  dead  day  !  There  is 
nothing  in  life  quite  so  hard  to  bear  as  the  silence  of 
the  departed.  But  we  know  that  they  are  with 


THE  NEW  COUNTRY  213 

Christ  in  Paradise,  and  we  look  to  join  them  there. 
"  They  without  us."  How  is  it  with  them  now  in 
that  happy  land  of  souls,  where  they  are  waiting  for  us 
and  helping  to  prepare  our  place  ?  Our  own  poet, 
George  Macdonald,  makes  the  dying  son  say  . 

"  I'm  gaun  hame  to  see  my  mither, 
She'll  be  weel  acquant  or  this, 
Sair  we'll  gaze  at  ane  anither, 

'Tween  the  auld  word  and  new  kiss." 

But  is  this  all  ?  Have  we  no  communication 
from  them  ?  I  remember  the  saying  of  Eugenie  de 
Guerin  :  "  If  I  lived  near  a  king  and  you  were  in 
prison,  assuredly  I  should  send  you  everything  I  could 
from  the  court." 

And  I  recall  the  lines  of  George  Wither  : 

"  For  it  is  not  time  nor  place 
That  can  much  divide  us  two, 
Though  it  part  us   or  a  space  ; 
Neither  shall  be  left  alone 
When  asunder  we  are  gone  ; 
I  in  thee,  and  thou  in  me, 
Shall  for  ever  dwelling  be." 

We  have  a  higher  word  than  any  of  these. 
"  Whether  we  wake  or  sleep,  we  should  live  together 
with  Him  !  "  I  can  see  that  thus  the  blessed  dead 
hold  the  right  hand  of  Christ  and  walk  in  the  light  with 
Him.  We  have  His  left  hand  and  are  in  twilight, 
but  He  is  between  us  holding  both,  and  may  it  not 
be  that  through  Him  new  currents  of  covenanting  love 
secretly  pass  between  the  companies  of  the  one 
family  who  dwell  in  Him  ?  I  believe  it,  and  life  would 


214  IMMORTALITY 

be  a  very  poor  thing  for  many  a  bereaved  soul  if  it 
had  only  the  memories  of  those  who  have  gone  and 
taken  half  the  heart  with  them.  It  is  not  so  sad,  not 
near  so  sad,  if  we  realise  our  oneness  in  the  ever-present 
Redeemer 


"DIED   IN  THE  WAR" 

The  Dear  Expected* 

*  I  AHESE  dear  lads,  struck  to  the  ground,  came  into 
-*•  a  world  where  a  place  was  prepared  for  them. 
Before  they  entered  it  many  a  loving  thought  had  been 
given  to  making  ready  for  them.  The  garments  in 
which  they  were  first  arrayed  were  the  handiwork  of 
their  mothers. 

"  Little  caps  in  secret  sewn, 
And  hid  in  many  a  quiet  nook." 

They  were  received,  most  of  them,  with  the  gladdest 
and  most  loving  welcome.  So  when  they  pass  to  the 
other  side,  to  the  new  country,  they  are  waited  for. 
They  are  expected.  All  the  things  they  need  are 
ready.  Their  needs  are  anticipated  and  supplied, 
and  the  home  of  each  differs  from  the  home  of  every 
other.  Nothing  is  too  good  for  them.  Everything 
must  be  the  best.  Our  Lord  is  engaged  in  preparing 
and  in  interceding.  He  does  not  take  any  of  His 
redeemed  till  the  fruits  are  all  mellow  and  the  flowers 
are  all  full  blown. 

*  Written  in  war-time. 


215 


V     COMFORT  AND  HOPE 


SHORT  MEDITATIONS 

"  How  is  our  work  being  done  ?     Patiently,  faithfully,  diligently  ? 
Has  that  long  restlessness  been  tamed  at  last  ?  " 

His  Poverty. 

THERE  is  something  suggestive  in  His  request, 
"  Show  me  a  penny."     Evidently  He  did  not 
possess  one,  and  when  He  died  He  left  nothing  behind 
Him  but  the  garment  for  which   they  threw  dice 
beneath  the  tree. 

Alive  and  Aware. 

IT  was  said  of  Christ  Himself  that  He  was  obedient 
unto  death — in  other  words,  a  listener  unto  death. 
From  the  first  to  the  last  Our  Lord  was  listening, 
always  listening  for  the  still,  small  voice  of  God.     If 
you  listen,  you  will  hear  that  voice  everywhere. 

Walking  in  a  wood  this  afternoon,  I  thought  of 
Balzac's  words  on  the  subduing  and  mysterious  in- 
fluence of  a  forest,  which  he  ascribes  to  the  sublime 
and  subtle  effect  of  the  presence  of  so  many  creatures, 
all  obedient  to  their  destinies,  immovable  in  submission. 
Christ  was  always  listening  to  the  voice  of  nature,  to 
the  voice  of  men,  to  the  multitude  on  whom  he  had 
compassion.  And  God  spoke  through  them  to  His 
soul. 

219 


220          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

Without  Rest  or  Haste. 

HOW  old  was  He  when  He  said,  "  It  is  finished  "  ? 
No  one  can  tell  to  a  year,  though  we  all  know 
He  was  young  ;  but  He  had  had  the  twelve  hours  of 
His  day  measured  out  to  Him,  and  when  the  night 
came  His  work  was  done.  He  wished  no  more. 
Without  rest  He  lived,  but  without  haste  ;  no  one 
ever  did  so  much,  and  no  one  was  ever  so  free  from  the 
timorous  hurry  of  unbelief.  Time  is  always  long 
enough,  when  we  are  sure  that  our  times  are  in  God's 
hand. 

The  Disciple  meditates. 

HAVE  we  not  promised  to  follow  Him  ?  Did 
we  not  say  "  Where  Thou  lodgest  I  will 
lodge  "  ?  Not  in  the  great  house  of  splendour,  but 
beneath  the  humble  roof,  or  under  the  stars.  Said  I 
not,  "  Where  Thou  diest  I  will  die  ? "  and  as  Thou 
didst  die  on  the  cross,  let  me  die  on  mine. 


The  Secret  Cross. 

NO  Christian  has  the  right  to  say  to  another, 
What  is  your  cross  ?  What  seems  to  be  the 
cross  in  many  cases  is  no  cross  at  all.  There  are 
multitudes  to  whom  it  would  be  no  cross  to  give  up 
what  they  possess.  Their  Master  knows  that  they 
should  carry  a  cross,  and  He  has  appointed  it,  and 
it  is  being  carried.  But  that  cross  is  no  more  known 


SHORT  MEDITATIONS          221 

to  the  world  than  is  the  new  name  on  the  white  stone. 
Therefore,  judgment  of  one  another  as  concerns  the 
cross  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  and  presumptuous 
ventures  that  can  be  imagined.  Young  people,  and 
older  people  too,  for  that  matter,  may  be  prescribing 
for  others  a  cross  which  would  be  light  as  air  in  com- 
parison with  the  secret  burdens  they  are  bearing.  In 
the  wonderful  history  of  Xavier  there  is  one  passage 
which  has  struck  us  as  the  most  significant  of  all  in 
his  life.  We  are  told  that  this  high-hearted  and 
triumphant  missionary  once  found  the  saying  "  Who- 
soever will  save  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  whosoever 
will  lose  his  life  for  My  sake  shall  find  it "  very  hard  to 
believe.  Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  this  momentary 
unbelief  may  have  been  in  reality  the  loftiest  mood  of 
this  mighty  spirit  ?  May  it  not  be  an  echo  of  that 
word  of  Christ  in  the  hour  of  His  nearing  Passion, 
"  Now  is  My  soul  troubled,  and  what  shall  I  say  ?  " 

Stars  and  Spring  Winds. 

THERE  is  something  that  touches  the  heart  in 
the  home-sickness  of  the  greater  mediaeval 
writers.  The  appellation  of  man,  Viator  the  Travel- 
ler, the  application  of  the  word  Patria  as  a  technical 
name  for  heaven,  the  use  of  such  words  as  illic  and  ibi 
without  any  other  explanation,  as  if  there  could  be 
but  one  there  to  a  Christian,  are  very  notable.  But 
life  outside  of  Bithynia  is  full  of  merciful  wonders,  of 
gladdening  surprises.  Even  here  those  who  stand 
still  may  see  the  salvation  of  the  Lord.  You  behold 


222          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

new  lights  replacing  those  that  have  died  out  from  the 
sky.  The  bare  and  barren  land  is  as  meadows  that 
are  waiting  for  the  spring  winds. 


Where  Rest  is  to  be  found. 

*  I  AHE  whole  object  of  the  Redeemer's  work.  His 
-••  dying,  His  rising,  His  ascension,  His  inter- 
cession, is  to  bring  men  to  God  the  Father.  It  is 
when  we  are  brought  to  God  that  the  fever  leaves  us, 
and  we  are  at  rest.  Too  much  have  we  preached, 
many  of  us,  not  the  Giver  but  the  gifts.  The  soul 
cries  out  "  Not  Thine,  but  Thee." 

The  Deafness  of  Christ. 

IT  was  He  who  heard  so  well  the  lightest  whisper 
of  God.  "  I  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  my  God  ; 
yea,  Thy  law  is  within  my  heart."  What  response 
ever  came  so  quickly  as  our  Lord's,  "  Lo,  I  come  "  ? 
To  be  obedient  means  to  listen,  and  He  was  a  listener 
unto  death.  But  how  deaf  He  was  sometimes  ;  deaf 
to  Satan,  deaf  to  his  friends,  deaf  to  His  human 
enemies  !  How  deaf  when  Satan  tempted  Him  in  the 
wilderness  ;  how  deaf  to  His  friends  when  they 
sought  to  alter  His  course  ;  how  deaf  to  Peter  when 
he  said,  "  This  shall  not  be  unto  Thee  "  ;  how  deaf 
in  the  Judgment  Hall  when  they  asked  Him,  Whence 
art  Thou  ?  "  Hearest  Thou  not  how  many  things 
they  witness  against  Thee  ? "  The  Incarnate  Word 
stood  with  locked  lips  before  Pilate,  and  answered 


SHORT  MEDITATIONS          223 

only  with  a  boding,  fateful  silence  to  questions  such 
as  these.  And  how  supremely  deaf  when  they  called 
to  Him,  "  If  Thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  come  down 
from  the  Cross  !  " 

But  in  the  same  way  He  was  deaf  not  only  to  coun- 
sels of  evil,  but  to  much  that  seemed  legitimate.  Here, 
also,  it  appears  as  if  many  pleasant  voices  that  spoke 
to  Him  might  have  been  heeded  without  sin,  and  to 
His  happiness.  There  are  voices  we  think  ourselves 
right  in  heeding  which  He  might  have  heeded  too. 
His  life  might  have  been  richer,  easier,  more  solaced, 
but  He  made  sharp  choices  and  stern  renunciations  and 
swift  decisions,  and  so  the  fullness  of  life  was  not  for 
Him,  and  the  allurement  and  appeal  were  in  vain. 

The  Voice  of  the  Fountain. 

HE  has  leisure  to  mark  the  pain  of  the  body  :   "  I 
thirst."     The  voice  of  the  Fountain  1     It  was 
He  who  had  made  the  land  alive  with  the  ripple  of 
sweet  water  :    the  Creator  of  cool  wells,  of  running 
brooks,  of  broad   rivers.     He  thirsted  ! 

Walking  with   Christ. 

TF  we  walk  with  thoughts  and  words  of  Christ,  He 
-••  will  join  us  in  our  journey.  He  will  open  our 
ears  and  seal  our  instruction.  It  is  His  manner  to 
join  those  who  walk.  It  is  His  manner  not  to  give 
knowledge  to  His  disciples  that  they  may  walk,  but 
to  give  it  as  they  walk.  When  Christ  reads  His  word 


224          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

with  us  the  letters  are  legible  only  to  those  who  run. 
In  his  company,  travelling  by  His  side,  we  know  what 
it  is  to  live  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the 
mouth  of  God. 


The  Divine  Voice 

WE  are  near  the  truth  when  our  hearts  are  dis- 
posed to  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  and  yielded 
up  to  His  guidance,  and  only  then.  We  are  of  those 
whom  Christ  loves  best  when  we  sit  at  His  feet  and  hear 
His  words,  fresh  and  new  in  His  gospels.  It  is  when 
we  die  to  our  own  proud  and  idle  dreams,  and  hearken 
to  the  Beloved  Son  in  whom  God  is  well  pleased,  that 
the  unfathomed  secrets  disclose  their  deep  significance 
to  the  true  and  pure-hearted  searcher.  This  is  the 
way  to  Divine  knowledge,  and  there  is  no  other. 

The  Successful  Search. 

TT7HEN  one  comes  to  think,  there  must  be  many 
households  where  one  is  recognised  as  the 
best  seeker,  and  is  thereby  endeared.  The  best 
seeker  is  not  merely  the  most  earnest  seeker,  but  the 
most  successful.  What  is  needed  for  a  good  seeker  ? 
Mind,  for  one  thing.  Carlyle  speaks  of  his  wife's 
sense  and  wisdom,  of  her  intellect,  shining  luminous 
in  every  direction,  the  highest  and  the  lowest.  He 
pays  tribute  to  her  just  discernment  and  her  swiftness 
of  decision.  It  is  not  easy  to  draw  a  sharp  line  between 
the  mind  and  the  heart.  The  one  acts  with  the  other, 
and  neither  by  itself  suffices.  For  the  true  seeker 


SHORT  MEDITATIONS          225 

there  must  be  sympathy  with  the  loser.  It  is  this 
sympathy  that  gives  the  key  to  much  that  may  have 
happened,  and  that  prompts  the  continuance  of  search 
after  long  and  frequent  discouragements.  Is  there 
such  a  thing  as  sympathy  with  what  is  lost  ?  In  the 
old  books  about  animal  magnetism  we  used  to  find 
stories  about  what  was  called  "  trace."  The  idea  was 
that  objects  bore  a  trace  left  upon  them  by  their  owners 
or  previous  owners,  and  not  only  by  the  owners  but  by 
the  persons  closely  connected  with  the  owners,  and  by 
other  objects  closely  connected  with  the  subjects  under 
investigation.  We  will  not  attempt  to  give  illustra- 
tions. Suffice  it  to  say  that  for  seeking  there  seems 
to  be  necessary  a  form  of  mystical  understanding  which 
it  is  not  easy  to  express  in  words. 

We  are  on  surer  and  simpler  ground  when  we  say 
that,  for  successful  seeking,  there  must  be  concentra- 
tion and  patience. 


1—15 


A  WORD  TO  THE  OLD 

"  A  man  should  be  content  if  he  has  had  his  day,  and  a  day  does 
not  stretch  over  all  the  years  of  a  long  lifetime." 

As  the  Tears  pass. 

THOSE  who  have  lost  hold  of  the  living  Truth, 
and  have  been  content  with  lower  aims,  may 
grow  sadder  every  year.  Not  so  those  who  have  a 
clear  and  calm  reply  to  the  deep  questions  of  the 
spirit,  and  whose  own  salvation  is  nearer — so  much 
nearer — than  when  they  first  believed. 

Never  forsaken 

THE  servants  of  Christ  mourn  in  decaying  years 
how  strangely  little  they  have  ever  done,  and 
they  sorrow  most  of  all  because  they  can  do  no  more. 
And  they  are  about  to  grasp  the  sceptre  of  dominion  ! 
They  are  appointed  to  a  kingdom  which  has  no  seeds 
of  dissolution  or  decay — but  which  must  move  with  the 
rest  ever  nearer  to  the  Sun  of  suns,  till  every  kingdom 
is  merged  in  one,  and  God  is  all  in  all. 

The  Inner  Life. 

XT^OUTH  demands  victory  and  cannot  wait.     It 

•*•       grows  weary  in  a  long  and  losing  fight.     But 

if  we  have  learned  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise  upon 

226 


A  WORD  TO  THE  OLD       227 

the  altar,  we  need  not  covet  youth,  God  has  provided 
some  better  thing  for  us.  We  know  it,  even  when 
we  see  ourselves  grey-headed  and  wrinkled  in  the 
mirror  and  feel  that  the  battle  is  as  much  as  ever  we 
can  fight,  and  the  race  as  much  as  ever  we  can  run. 
We  have  learned  to  give  thanks  as  the  tide  of  battle 
rolls  this  way  and  that.  The  inner  life  wells  up  as 
the  outer  sinks  into  the  ground.  There  is  within  us 
something  better  than  the  light-heartedness  of  youth  : 
a  joy,  a  buoyancy,  a  confidence,  which  the  world 
cannot  give  and  cannot  take  away. 


A  WORD  TO  THE  MIDDLE-AGED 

"  Let  everybody  who  is  dissatisfied  with  the  shape  his  existence 
is  taking,  look  into  his  heart  and  ask  whether  the  secret  is  not  in 
the  commonplace  and  vulgar  vice  of  laziness.  It  is  so,  for  the 
main  part." 

"And  yet  I  should  like " 

WHAT  dreams  we  had  of  devoutness,  of  holiness, 
of  success,  of  perfect  unity,  love  and  con- 
cord !  What  dreams  we  had  of  our  own  ascending, 
and  oh,  how  far  short  we  are  of  what  we  looked  to  be 
and  might  have  been  !  It  seems  now  as  if  a  stern  and 
grey  day  of  the  Lord  had  come  down  upon  the  once 
roseate  life,  and  made  it  poor  and  cold.  This  is  the 
true  crisis  in  the  life  of  the  Christian  servant,  none  the 
less  real  because  it  is  so  little  spoken  of. 

We  are  not  allowed  to  die,  and  we  must  not  give 
up.  We  are  not  allowed  to  die,  although  it  is  always 
better  in  a  sense  for  the  Christian  to  die  than  to  live. 
Yet  it  is  always  better  to  live  so  long  as  we  can  do  God's 
will  and  God's  work,  and  we  can  do  it,  though  in 
another  fashion.  It  is  not  as  it  was  with  us  at  the 
beginning.  Dreams  may  be  dispersed,  hopes  may 
have  grown  chill,  efforts  may  have  failed,  love  may 
have  been  lost,  and  goodness  may  have  been  trodden 
down.  No  longer  do  we  walk  on  the  green  paths, 
no  longer  are  we  admired  or  applauded.  At  the  best 

228 


A  WORD  TO  THE  MIDDLE-AGED     229 

there  is  before  us  the  dusty  road  of  common  duty,  and 
it  may  be  that  the  burning  sand  of  the  desert  is  beneath 
our  feet.  And  yet  we  are  not  going  to  give  up. 
There  is  something  in  the  Christian  heart  that  silently 
protests.  "  I  think  I  have  done  enough,  and  yet  I 

should  like "     "And  yet   I  should  like " 

That  is  the  undertone  that  will  save  us.  It  is  with  that 
feeling,  by  God's  grace,  that  we  may  be  able  to  turn  the 
battle  at  the  gates.  Forts  which  temptation  never 
reached  before  are  now  attacked,  but  we  will  not  suffer 
them  to  be  carried.  And  if  we  understood  it,  this  is 
just  the  point  when  the  nobler  life  begins 


A  WORD  TO  THE  YOUNG 

"  I  cannot  pray,  would  that  I  could,"  is  surely  a  prayer  which 
will  reach  its  destination,  though  the  sender  knows  it  not. 

To  the  Heavy-hearted. 

T  TE  has  promised  to  be  with  us  to  the  end  of  the 
-••  •••  world,  and  He  will  winter  with  us  through 
the  dark,  cold  years  until  the  winter  ends,  until  we  pass 
from  the  turmoil  of  this  world  to  the  peace  of  that. 
And  for  you  who  are  not  yet  clothed  in  sackcloth, 
for  you  whose  peace  has  not  yet  been  broken  by  the 
dark  sorrows  of  life,  He  is  the  Friend  of  friends.  I 
know  that  a  young  heart  may  be  very  heavy.  I 
know  that  the  ancient  thirst  of  humanity  is  in  the  most 
joyous  spirit  and  will  crave  for  satisfaction.  This 
morning  your  hopes  may  be  high,  but  in  your  souls 
there  is  always  that  low  cry  for  rest,  that  low  cry 
which  swells  at  last  into  passionate  weeping  if  the  rest 
is  not  given.  You  have  the  hard  things  of  life  before 
you,  but  you  need  not  fear  them  if  you  win  the  hope 
that  is  in  Jesus  Christ,  or  rather  if  you  win  Him,  for 
He  is  the  hope.  "  Unto  Him  that  loved  us  and  loosed 
us  from  our  sins  in  His  own  blood,  and  made  us  a 
kingdom  of  priests  unto  God,  even  the  Father,  to  Him 
be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever."  Might  we 
all  join  at  last  in  that  triumphal  cry  ! 

230 


GREAT  WRITERS 

"  In  the  matter  of  reading,  I  have  long  found  it  supremely  useful 
to  read  everything  twice  over  if  I  wished  to  retain  it,  and  to  read 
it  a  second  time  with  increased  solicitude." 


HENRIK   IBSEN 
The   Unfaltering. 

THE  business  of  Ibsen  has  been  to  tear  off  the  last 
mask  from  the  unbearable  face  of  truth.     Be- 
cause he  has  done  so,  his  writings  have  been  received 
with  howls  of  execration. 

BALZAC 

i 
A  Christian  Novelist. 

ALZAC,  whatever  else  may  be  said  about  him, 
is  assuredly  the  greatest  of  Christian  novelists, 
by  far  the  most  profound  interpreter  of  that  mystery 
of  expiation  and  redemption  which  is  at  the  heart  of 
Christianity. 

ii 
"  The  Country  Pastor  " 

TT7HERE  in  the  literature  of  fiction  can  one  find 

so  complete  an  exposition  on   remorse   and 

expiation   as    that,    for   example,  in   his   book,   The 

231 


23 2          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

Country  Pastor  ?  His  great  intellect  and  noble  heart 
rested  devoutly  on  the  experience  of  the  saints.  He 
found  no  difficulty  in  the  humble  acceptance  of  the 
Christian  creed  and  one  can  imagine  what  scorn  would 
have  been  awakened  in  him  by  the  gaunt  and  forlorn 
structure  which  is  dressed  out  and  set  forth  among  us 
anew  as  the  Christian  faith.  How  often,  even  in  his 
least  congenial  writing,  when  he  seems  abandoned  to 
the  spirit  of  cynicism,  does  his  faith  flash  up  and  drive 
it  out  of  sight  ?  There  be  those  who,  with  Matthew 
Arnold,  still  hear  the  melancholy,  long-withdrawing 
roar  of  the  sea  of  faith  as  it  steadily  retreats  and  leaves 
the  barren  shingles  naked.  Others,  more  wise,  hear 
the  wave  of  joy  and  hope  that  is  to  lift  the  world, 
coming  nearer  and  nearer. 


DR.  JOHN   BROWN 
Of  "Rab  and  his  Friends.'" 

TT  has  been  said  that  no  man  gained  a  literary  repu- 
-*•  tation  so  easily  as  Dr.  John  Brown  did.  He  wrote 
no  sustained  work  ;  the  fragments  he  collected  repre- 
sent practically  all  his  output.  They  are  of  very 
unequal  value.  They  are  full  of  repetitions  and 
quotations.  If  all  the  quoted  matter  were  struck  out, 
not  much  would  be  left.  Yet  they  live,  and  may  very 
well  survive  much  that  is  more  ambitious.  They  are 
all  tinged  by  an  exquisite  individuality.  Perhaps 
their  chief  characteristic  is  their  benignity,  and  be- 
nignity joined  to  power  is  the  rarest  quality  in  the 


GREAT  WRITERS  233 

world.  Let  anyone  try  to  pick  out  in  a  great  audi- 
ence the  faces  that  are  at  once  benignant  and  strong, 
and  he  will  understand  what  I  mean. 

When  all  is  said  and  done,  it  is  the  benignity  that 
looked  from  Dr.  Brown's  face  and  looks  from  his 
writings  which  is  his  passport  to  immortality.  He 
was  "  determined  not  to  execute  a  large  order," 
and  he  did  not ;  but  much  will  perish  ere  he  be 
forgotten. 


ROBERT  BROWNING 
The  Preacher's  Poet. 

NO  one  has  preached  so  powerfully  the  shallow- 
ness  of  unbelief,  the  corruption  of  man's  heart, 
the  superiority  of  religion  over  morality,  the  doctrine 
of  a  special  providence,  the  fulfilment  of  God's  will  in 
history,  and  other  things  hard  to  be  understood.  But 
among  all  his  religious  writings  we  question  whether 
there  is  any  more  precious,  more  profound,  more 
satisfying  than  that  found  in  his  last  book,  Asolando. 
It  is  the  poem  cc  Reverie  "  beginning  : 

"  I  know  there  shall  dawn  a  day — 

Is  it  here  on  homely  earth  ? 
Is  it  yonder,  worlds  away, 

Where  the  strange  and  new  have  birth, 
That  Power  comes  full  in  play  ?  " 

In  it  Calvinists  will  find  the  soul  of  their  philosophy, 
their  theology,  and  their  dreams. 


234          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

NEW  ENGLANDERS 
A  Notable  School. 

*  I  XHE  Puritanism  of  New  England  created  a  school 
-*•  to  which  the  only  affinities  I  can  think  of 
are  to  be  found  among  the  Swiss  Protestants.  The 
Warners,  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
Mrs.  Whitney,  and  a  few  others  are  comparable  with 
Godet  and  Vinet  and  Amiel.  There  is  about  them  a 
kind  of  frosty  purity,  with  an  edge  of  fire. 

The  Authoress  of  "  Uncle  Tom." 

MRS.  BEECHER  STOWE  had  her  share  of 
those  trials  that  search  the  heart  and  reins,  and 
she  knew  we  shall  never  be  rid  of  them.  She  recog- 
nised that  the  most  awful  and  appalling  words  of 
Scripture  were  uttered  by  Christ  himself.  She  took 
refuge  in  Him,  the  Lord  of  all  worlds  with  all  power 
given  to  Him.  He  would  hide  her  till  the  storm  of 
life  was  past,  and  then — 

"  One  view  of  Jesus  as  He  is 
Will  strike  all  sin  for  ever  dead." 

This  faith  shines  out  clearly  from  all  that  she  has 
written.  In  all  her  perplexities  she  never  ceased  to 
love  Christ,  and  to  believe  that  He  came  out  from 
God. 

CHARLES  KINGSLEY 
The  Hero. 

17"  INGSLE  Y  remains  to  us  one  of  the  men  who  are 
-*-^-  more  and  greater  than  their  books.  His  bio- 
graphy may  be  read  when  his  novels  are  forgotten.  It 


GREAT  WRITERS  235 

is  the  picture  of  strong  nature  ennobled  by  self-con- 
quest. Bunyan  says  of  one  among  his  friends  that  he 
was  "a  stranger  to  much  conflict  with  the  devil." 
He  would  never  have  said  that  about  Kingsley. 
Kingsley  was  led  into  temptation  and  delivered  from 
evil.  He  was  to  those  in  his  home  a  hero.  His 
naturally  hot  temper  was  strictly  under  control,  and 
his  constant  tenderness  and  unselfish  affection  endeared 
him  to  all.  He  took  pupils,  and  one  of  them  thinks 
that  even  his  biography  does  not  do  full  justice  to  his 
wit,  his  vitality,  his  fun.  But  we  can  picture  to  our- 
selves, and  always  with  delight,  that  swarthy,  bright- 
eyed,  eager  man,  always  indignant  at  oppression, 
always  helpful  to  weakness,  noble  and  ennobling, 
whatever  his  mistakes  might  have  been. 

It  is  pleasant  to  read  recollections  of  Eversley 
Rectory  in  Kingsley's  time.  His  wife,  most  tenderly 
loved,  was  the  companion  of  all  his  interests.  She 
was  described  by  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe  as  "  a  real 
Spanish  beauty." 


TWO  CARDINALS 

"  There  is  no  need  to  lose  heart  amid  the  mists  and  vapours  that 
sometimes  shroud  the  City  of  God." 

JOHN  HENRY  NEWMAN 
A  Great  Spirit. 

T  TE  was  a  most  gracious  and  assiduous  correspond- 
-•-  •*•  ent,  and  a  proper  selection  from  the  immense 
mass  of  his  letters  should  be  an  English  classic.  When 
strangers  of  other  Churches  sent  him  their  books,  he 
did  not  put  them  off  with  formal  acknowledgments, 
but  found  time  to  read  the  volumes,  and  commend 
them  if  he  could.  But  of  his  countless  deeds  of 
charity  volumes  might  be  written.  Of  the  spirit  of 
his  life  and  thought — sensitive,  yearning,  lifted  up  to 
God — a  picture  hung  in  his  room  at  the  Oratory 
impressively  spoke.  It  was  a  view  of  Oxford,  on  which 
he  had  written,  Fill  homtnts,  putasne  vivent  ossa  ista  ? 
Doming  DeuSy  tu  nosti  ?  Son  of  man,  can  these  bones 
live  ?  O,  Lord  God,  Thou  knowest. 

MANNING 
The  Cardinal  who  cared. 

WE  are  certain  that  in  much  he  showed  ministers 
of  other  Churches  an  example  which  must 
be  taken,  if  the  Church  and  the  labouring  classes  are 
not  to  part  company  for  ever. 

236 


MIGHTY  WORKERS 

"  They  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their  strength." 
Is  that  true  ?     If  it  is,  then  nothing  else  matters  much  any  more. 

DR.   MARCUS   DODS 

i 

His  Concentration. 

WHEN  I  first  knew  him  he  would  not  read  the 
newspaper  in  the  morning  until  the  task  of 
the  day  had  been  fulfilled,  and  so  it  was  with  him 
always.  He  was  not  to  be  turned  aside,  and  he  knew 
that  achievement  must  come  through  the  constant 
accumulation  of  self-limitings,  self-sacrifices,  reser- 
vations, denials.  All  his  years  on  to  the  very  last  he 
acted  out  this  belief.  Nothing  slovenly,  nothing  per- 
functory, ever  came  from  his  hand.  He  was  as 
exacting  with  himself  when  he  had  risen  to  fame  and 
position,  as  in  the  days  when  he  was  an  obscure  and 
disappointed  probationer.  Underlying  all  was  a 
certain  modest  consciousness  of  power.  He  knew 
that  it  was  in  him  if  he  only  had  the  chance. 

ii 

His  Four  Qualifications. 

success  in  life  be  commanded  ?     Not  quite. 
There  are  walls  that  cannot  be  scaled,  but  upon 
the  whole  a  certain  measure  of  victory  may  be  reached 

237 


23  8          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

by  any  man  with  four  special  qualifications.  These 
qualifications  are  (i)  a  definite  object  in  view  ;  (2)  a 
determination  not  to  be  defeated  5  (3)  the  capacity 
of  exercising  continual  self-denial  5  and  (4)  a  certain 
belief  in  one's  powers.  Marcus  Dods  had  all  these 
qualities.  In  spite  of  the  discouragements  heaped 
upon  him,  he  had  a  certain  quiet  confidence  that 
the  work  of  the  ministry  was  that  to  which  he 
was  called,  also  that  his  sphere  of  work  lay  in  this 
land  and  not  outside. 


BENJAMIN  JOWETT 
A  Spur  to  his  Friends. 

MANY  who  lived  outside  the  sphere  of  his  in- 
fluence must  have  been  somewhat  puzzled 
at  the  great  place  Dr.  Jowett  filled  in  life,  and  the  sense 
of  loss  caused  by  his  death.  It  is  not  accounted  for 
by  his  eloquence,  or  his  scholarship,  least  of  all  by 
his  witticisms.  Jowett  urged  upon  his  friends,  old  and 
young,  the  paramount  duty  of  work,  setting  the 
example  himself  to  the  very  end.  After  the  unrest- 
ing labours  of  his  college,  he  would  devote  himself 
during  vacation  to  the  dull  drudgery  of  teaching. 
As  a  friend  he  showed  himself  friendly  by  ever  inciting 
to  further  attempts.  He  pressed  Lord  Tennyson, 
after  the  Idylls  were  completed,  to  do  something 
equally  great.  So  fully  was  his  time  occupied  that, 


MIGHTY  WORKERS  239 

when  trying  to  find  place  for  some  duty  of  benevo- 
lence, he  discovered  that  his  only  vacant  hour  was 
between  one  and  two  in  the  morning.  There  is 
much  in  this  to  ponder  deeply.  More  lives,  perhaps, 
are  wrecked  by  sloth  than  by  any  other  vice. 


EASTER 


"  Let  us  be  sure  that  Christ  is  in  the  dark  room,  keeping  the 
soul  that  is  dear  to  Him  alive." 


Loving  Themselves. 

'HAT    anguished    hearts    need    is    the    Easter 


w 


assurance  of  life.  For  we  cannot,  try  as  we 
may,  love  the  dead  as  dead.  We  may,  and  we  do, 
love  their  memories  ;  but  if  we  love  themselves,  then 
they  are  living.  Love  is  for  life  ;  it  cannot  dwell 
with  death. 


The  Resurrection  Faith. 

CHRIST  is  risen  !  The  smitten  soul  holds  by 
its  anchored  trust,  through  the  open  resurrec- 
tion gate.  He  looks  back  upon  us,  and  we  know  that 
there  is  a  heart  in  the  world,  a  reward  for  toil,  a  reason 
for  suffering,  a  great  gathering  together  of  life  and 
thought  and  love  to  Him  who  will  interpret  to  us  the 
purpose  of  our  days,  crown  in  them  what  was  begun 
worthily,  and  give  back  to  our  sight  the  vanished  faces 
loved  long  and  tenderly.  .  .  .  The  Resurrection  faith 
will  save  us  from  the  desolate  unbelief  which  thinks 
that  all  the  messages  of  the  living  Christ  have  been 

240 


EASTER  241 

spoken  to  the  dead,  and  that  for  us  there  is  no 
word.  He  speaks,  not  to  contradict  any  word  that 
ever  proceeded  from  His  mouth,  but  to  enlarge, 
to  interpret,  reconcile.  He  still  leads  the  genera- 
tions on. 


i— 1 6 


CHRISTMAS-TIDE 

•«A  child  appeals  to  us  specially  because  it  so  much  needs  us  ; 
and  the  Eternal  Child,  too,  casts  Himself  upon  us,  in  love  and  hope." 

A  Yule-tide  Homily. 

/~TAHERE  are  those  who  encourage  and  exhilarate 
•*•  by  their  very  presence,  who  bring  warmth  and 
light  into  every  place  they  enter.  "  I  shall  never 
forget  the  smile  with  which  he  greeted  me  the  first 
time  I  ever  spoke  to  him,  more  than  six-and-twenty 
years  ago,  in  the  library  at  Ladywood.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  numbers  will  say  the  same  thing.  It  seems 
to  me,  as  I  look  back  upon  those  days,  that  the  life  to 
every  one  of  us  was  changed  and  exalted  by  an  ac- 
quaintance with  him.  Always  and  everywhere  he 
was  himself,  and  what  a  self  it  was  !  "  Such  was  the 
testimony  borne  by  the  author  of  "John  Inglesant" 
to  an  early  friend.  Then  how  much  a  word  will  do. 
Over  thirty  years  one  man  recollects  how  another 
said  to  him  in  a  crowded  street,  "  That  is  very  striking. 
I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  telling  me  that." 

The  Value  of  a  Word. 

\  WORD  of  heartening  from  a  schoolmaster  in 
•**•  childhood  will  be  remembered  when  a  thousand 
things  apparently  much  more  important  are  lost  in  the 

242 


CHRISTMAS-TIDE  243 

azure.  A  word — how  much  it  may  mean  !  Bishop 
Fraser,  of  Manchester,  was  one  of  the  most  radiant 
natures  in  the  world.  When  he  died  his  friend  Lord 
Lingen  bore  this  testimony  :  "  Both  before  and  after 
he  became  a  Bishop  he  not  unfrequently  stayed  at  my 
house  ;  and  I  really  can  say  without  exaggeration  that 
the  very  sight  of  him  had  the  effect  of  sunshine  both 
on  the  servants  and  ourselves.  If  ever  there  was  a 
sociable  and  sympathetic  man  he  was  one,  pleasantly 
inquisitive,  and  ready  to  talk  to  anyone.  '  Which 
was  the  maid  who  cooked  that  nice  dish  ? '  said  he 
one  morning,  after  he  had  read  prayers  to  us  all, 
referring  to  something  he  had  praised  at  dinner  the 
day  before."  I  might  pursue  this  train  indefinitely, 
but  I  turn  to  a  practical  suggestion. 

The  Fine  Gift  of  a  Letter. 

WHEN  Christmas  approaches  we  all  think  about 
presents.  Many  of  us  have  not  very  much 
to  give.  Many  do  not  care  for  presents  of  the  ordinary 
kind.  We  are  satisfied  with  our  possessions.  What 
everyone  values  in  a  present  is  its  fitness,  the  kind 
thought  of  remembrance  which  it  embodies.  Why 
should  we  not  this  Christmas  send  out  a  batch  of  kind, 
affectionate,  and  encouraging  letters  ?  This  at  least 
is  within  the  power  of  us  all,  and  who  knows  what 
happiness  we  might  give,  what  cheer,  what  strength, 
what  hope  ?  We  can  call  to  mind  by  a  little  thinking 
friends  and  acquaintances  with  whom  life  had  passed 
roughly  during  the  year.  Write  to  the  friend  far 


244          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

away  who  is  fighting  a  hard  battle,  and  tell  him  what 
you  think  of  his  constancy.  Write  to  the  sick  friend 
who  fancies  herself  of  no  use  in  the  world,  and  tell 
her  that  her  life  matters  much  to  you.  Write  to  the 
author  whose  book  you  have  liked.  Send  no  advice — 
there  is  a  great  deal  too  much  advice  in  the  world — 
send  encouragement,  words  of  recognition,  of  gratitude, 
of  affection,  of  admiration,  and  send  such  words 
especially  to  those  who  are  living  through  a  time  of 
great  stress  and  trial.  Your  letter  may  decide  the 
issue  of  the  conflict. 


A  Thought  for  the  Faithful. 

A  T  Christmas  the  heart  should  be  subdued  and 
4*  softened.  The  divine  hope  that  is  as  dew  on 
the  thoughts  of  youth  should  be  revived  and  the  old 
tenderness  restored.  There  may  be  no  other  Christ- 
mas for  us  in  this  world.  We  are  nearer  the  end  of 
all  things.  Here  we  have  no  continuing  city,  but  at 
Christmas  we  recall  that  through  Christ  the  new  world 
is  ours,  and  our  life  is  but  beginning.  Now  is  our 
salvation  nearer  at  hand  than  when  we  first  believed. 
We  go  forth  to  meet  it,  and  the  still  lights  of  the  New 
Jerusalem  burn  and  shine  in  welcome. 

The  Coming  of  the  Child. 

OVE  waited  on  Him  when  He  came.     True,  He 
was  laid  in  a  manger,  but  he  was  laid  there 
tenderly.     He  was  trustful  as  children  are  trustful, 


CHRISTMAS-TIDE  245 

and  there  is  nothing  softens  the  heart  more  than  a 
child's  faith.  Most  of  us  grow  world-weary.  The 
time  comes  when  we  expect  danger  at  every  step,  when 
the  grey  sisters  enter  our  house  and  threaten  to  abide, 
when  our  idols  turn  to  clay,  and  our  eagerly  sought 
prizes  drop  dead  from  our  grasp.  But  we  are  healed 
from  the  disease  of  hardness  by  a  little  child  who  re- 
calls the  old  time  when  we  thought  all  men  noble  and 
all  women  faithful.  Nothing,  we  repeat,  is  more 
beautiful  than  to  be  trusted  once  more,  to  be  trusted 
as  only  a  child  will  trust  us.  Now  it  is  a  true  and 
salutary  thought  for  Christmas  that  Christ  needs  us 
even  as  we  need  Him.  It  was  love  of  us  that  brought 
Him  here.  It  was  to  win  us  that  the  travail  of  His 
soul  was  passed  through,  and  now,  when  the  days  of 
His  flesh  are  over,  now  that  He  is  ascended,  we  can 
look  at  Him  in  a  new  light.  We  remember  what  our 
earthly  love  was  to  Him  ;  how  when  childhood  was 
over  He  was  left  alone  and  desolate  in  a  darkened 
world  ;  how  when  He  was  yet  young  He  suffered  the 
pain  which  goes  down  to  the  very  springs  of  life  ; 
how  His  heart  was  not  light  though  His  step  was 
bold  ;  how  He  was  tempted  and  scourged,  and  rent 
at  last  by  evil.  And  the  thought  that  we  slew  Him 
should  act  on  our  unbelief  and  sloth  and  hardness  of 
heart  like  fire,  till  the  foremost  passion  of  life  should 
be  to  make  the  great  reparation,  and  give  ourselves  to 
Him  Who  gave  Himself  for  us. 

The  Eternal  Child,  like  all  children,  came  seeking 
for  love. 


VIGNETTES 

"  Some  apparently  enter  life  with  recollection,  as  they  might 
enter  a  place  of  prayer." 

DEAN   CHURCH 

i 
A  Watcher  of  the  Skies. 

one  ever  mistook  him  for  a  careless  Broad 
Churchman.  There  are  really  religious  men 
whose  tone  is  not  religious  ;  but  his  theology  had 
unmistakably  the  ideal  element.  And  he  had,  withal, 
the  rare  and  commanding  prophetic  quality.  He 
watched  the  far-off  horizon  of  thought,  and  was  con- 
scious of  the  coming  clouds  and  the  still  more  distant 
sunshine. 

n 

Single-hearted. 

THE  Deanery  of  St.  Paul's  was  literally  forced 
upon  him.  For  one  thing,  he  loved  the  quiet, 
simple,  homely  life.  Like  his  dear  friend  Mozley, 
he  was  very  much  at  home  with  rustics.  Both  of 
them  greatly  admired  the  Rev.  Samuel  Richards,  of 
Stowlangtoft,  a  perfect  type  of  a  country  pastor,  shed- 
ding the  light  of  an  equable  and  happy  mind  on  his 

246 


VIGNETTES  247 

neighbourhood,  entering  with  whole-hearted  sym- 
pathy into  the  life  of  his  people,  writing  epitaphs  for 
them  in  the  village  churchyard,  and  lying  down  by 
their  side  at  last. 


SAMUEL  WILBERFORCE 

TTE  was  a  delightful  companion  and  a  frank  and 
-*-  •*•  simple  host  ;  a  good  Yorkshire  pie  sat  at  all 
times  invitingly  on  his  table,  and  his  melodious  voice 
would  often  summon  a  neighbouring  chum  to  his 
fire-side  for  a  chat  through  half  the  nighti  I  do  not 
know  anything  in  the  whole  range  of  biography  which 
gives  a  better  account  of  the  essence  of  popularity. 
Wilberforce  made  it  good  to  the  very  end  of  his  long, 
strenuous,  and  happy  life. 


BISHOP   LIGHTFOOT 
A  Dedicated  Life. 

WE  are  most  attracted  by  the  signs  of  a  lofty  and 
austere  piety  which  mark  his  episcopate  as 
they  did  that  of  Joseph  Butler.  Many  viewed  with 
misgiving  the  ascetic  life  of  the  author  of  the  Analogy ', 
his  melancholy  forebodings,  his  solitary  habits,  the 
ornate  chapel  where  he  bowed  before  a  silver  cross. 
Lightfoot's  piety  found,  perhaps,  more  legitimate 
channels  of  expression,  but  it  was  of  the  same  type — 
lonely,  intense,  and  pale.  In  this  lies  his  chief,  his 
true  greatness  ;  that  Ad  Te  (juacunque  yocas  was  his 
guiding  rule  of  life. 


248          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

SIR  WALTER  BESANT 
Tender  of  Heart. 

HE  was  a  very  busy  man,  very  systematic  in  his 
habits.  He  lived  very  quietly,  and  did  not 
care  to  be  disturbed.  He  was  always  ready  for  a 
fight  and  did  his  best  to  win,  though  I  suspect  he  was 
at  bottom  a  sensitive  man  and  disliked  controversy. 
But  when  a  forlorn  creature  with  no  claim  upon  him 
sought  his  aid,  everything  was  put  aside.  He  would 
do  anything,  he  would  endure  anything,  he  would 
forgive  anything. 

No  one  will  ever  know  all  that  Sir  Walter  Besant 
did  as  a  helper,  but  if  we  are  to  believe  Christ,  he  was 
a  Christian  indeed,  a  Christian  tried  by  the  most 
exacting  of  tests,  one  who  had  that  in  him  which  will 
place  him  at  the  Right  Hand  when  men  who  profess 
much  more  may  be  missing.  This  is  what  I  should 
single  out  as  the  great  characteristic  of  Sir  Walter 
Besant,  and  if  earth  has  anything  fairer  to  show  I 
do  not  know  it. 


THE  ARCHBISHOP 
Randall  Davidson. 

f  I  VHE  portrait  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
-"•  by  Mr.  Sargent,  attracted  me  very  much. 
They  say  that  Mr.  Sargent  is  extremely  successful  in 
getting  at  the  inner  soul  of  his  subjects.  If  that  be 
so,  and  if  he  has  done  so  in  the  case  of  the  Archbishop, 


VIGNETTES  249 

he  reveals  to  us  a  grave  and  anxious  prince  of  the 
Church  with  a  heavy  weight  of  care  and  responsibility, 
borne  as  best  may  be.  It  is  not  a  good  likeness  of  the 
Archbishop  as  he  appears  to  the  public.  The  fresh 
rosy  face,  and  the  smiling  gracious  manner  with  which 
the  public  is  familiar,  are  not  represented  here.  Some- 
times the  excellent  Archbishop's  face  and  demeanour 
suggest  the  lines  : 

"  Then  let  come  what  come  may, 
I  shall  have  had  my  day." 

I  do  not  use  these  words  in  any  disparaging  way.  It 
is  not  the  worst  mood  of  mind.  It  is  the  mood  of  those 
who  do  their  best  and  think  of  what  they  have  done, 
and  leave  the  future  to  God  and  to  those  who  come 
after  them.  But  Mr.  Sargent  gives  us  a  man  on  whom 
the  weight  of  the  present  and  the  future  is  pressing. 

CANON   BENHAM 
In  Switzerland. 

THERE  is  a  pretty  little  English  church  in  Murren. 
When  we  went  the  first  Sunday  morning  we 
did  not  know  the  preacher's  name.  I  was  sure  he 
was  somebody  ;  the  sensitive,  mobile,  wistful  face 
said  as  much,  even  before  the  sermon  had  been  reached. 
When  it  came,  we  found  it  packed  full  of  brilliant 
things,  and  not  without  audacities  like  these  :  "  The 
most  contemptible  figures  in  literature  are  minor 
poets  "  (this  is  my  way  of  putting  the  sentiment — 
no  doubt  it  was  more  decently  veiled).  It  turned  out 
that  the  chaplain  was  the  genial  Canon  Benham,  the 


25o          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

biographer  of  Archbishop  Tait  and  the  editor  of 
Cowper 

PRINCIPAL  MARCUS  DODS 
A  Haunting  Influence. 

r\R.  DODS  was,  in  fact,  unconscious  of  his  own 
•*^  greatness.  He  was  the  humblest  of  men,  and 
he  never  offered  counsel  unless  it  was  asked  for.  But 
unconsciously  he  had  a  haunting  influence  on  those 
who  knew  him.  Unconsciously  he  prompted  them  to 
do  right. 

THE  GREAT   DR.   CHALMERS 
A  Talk  Worth  While. 

/CHALMERS  was  apt  to  be  somewhat  silent  in 
^^  conversation,  but  at  times  he  would  become 
vehemently  excited,  and  he  never  said  anything  com- 
monplace. Once,  conversing  with  Isaac  Taylor,  he 
brought  his  chair  nearer  and  nearer,  till  Taylor  found 
himself  with  his  back  to  the  wall. 


DR.   RICHARD   GARNETT 
The  Gentleman. 


day  I  happened  to  be  with  him  in  his  own 
room  at  the  Museum.  A  poor  lady  came  in 
with  a  pitiful  and  embarrassing  story.  It  was  almost 
impossible  to  avoid  a  smile  at  the  way  in  which  she  told 
it  Dr,  Garnett  listened  with  the  utmost  courtesy, 


VIGNETTES  251 

promised  to  do  what  he  could,  and  showed  her  out. 
Ninety-nine  men  out  of  a  hundred  would  at  least  have 
exchanged  a  friendly  smile  over  the  interview.  Dr. 
Garnett  carefully  looked  elsewhere,  and  turned  the 
conversation  on  to  something  else.  She  was  a  woman, 
and  she  was  destitute — it  was  enough. 


Dr.  Black  of  Inverness. 

DR.  BLACK  was  the  greatest  guest  I  have  ever 
known.  He  never  entered  any  house  but  he 
captivated  all  who  were  in  it.  He  comprehended  the 
entire  situation.  If  there  was  trouble  he  went  to 
meet  it.  If  there  was  joy  he  gave  it  a  new  brightness. 
In  a  day  he  was  free  of  all  rooms  and  all  hearts.  The 
dreaded  stranger  of  Saturday  was  the  beloved  friend 
of  Monday — and  Dr.  Black's  friendships  were  not 
apt  to  lapse. 


Lady  Victoria  Buxton. 

HILE  it  can  scarcely  be  said  that  Lady  Victoria 


w 


Buxton's  letters  are  characterised  by  the 
distinction  which  belongs  to  some  who  have  lived  the 
religious  life,  there  was  an  unmistakable  sweetness, 
kindness,  and  patience  about  her  nature.  She  could 
not  forgive  herself  for  being  angry,  whatever  the 
reason  was.  Even  when  she  was  right  she  made  haste 
to  apologise.  She  was  always  the  first  to  apologise. 
She  left  behind  her  a  trail  of  light 


252          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

Walt  Whitman. 

A  MERICA  condemned  him  ;  he  lived  in  obscure 
•*  *•  poverty,  accepting  with  dignity  whatever  his 
admirers  here  have  sent  him.  But  he  did  not  die 
friendless,  he  did  not  die  wretched,  and  what  is  best, 
he  did  not  die  sour,  or  bitter,  or  foiled,  and  those  for 
whom  his  writings  had  a  message,  knew  that  he 
would  not. 


VISIONS 

"  The  path  of  dust  and  dead  leaves  brings  us  to  the  Fountain." 

A  Religious  Daily. 

THE  great  enterprise — one  of  the  certainties,  one, 
I  hope,  of  the  certain  successes — of  the  future, 
is  a  London  religious  daily  which  will  circulate  all 
over  the  country.     That  this  is  practicable  I  have  no 
doubt. 

Life  Less  Burdensome. 

/TTNHE  time  will  come,  and  it  is  not  far  off,  when  the 
•*•  greater  evils  of  society  will  vanish.  We  shall 
extinguish  pauperism,  and  wonder  how  we  ever 
suffered  it  to  exist.  We  shall  somehow  solve  on 
Christian  principles  the  discord  between  labour  and 
capital.  We  shall  prevail  over  the  men  who  would 
have  stood  at  the  foot  end  of  the  Cross  and  chaffered 
for  the  coat  without  the  seam.  We  shall  vindicate 
the  supremacy  of  conscience,  and  make  life  more 
equal,  more  just,  less  burdensome.  "  The  poor  shall 
not  always  be  forgotten,  the  patient  obedience  of  the 
meek  shall  not  perish  for  ever."  In  the  day  to  be 
the  liberated  victims  of  civilisation  will  see  that  every- 
thing good  in  their  lot  has  come  to  them  because 

253 


254         COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

Christ  descended.  Mighty  as  is  the  lust  for  gold,  there 
is  one  thing  mightier,  and  that  is  the  passion  for  right- 
eousness. 

"  Better  Days  " 

T  HAVE  a  vision  of  better  days,  of  days  when  that 
-*•  abomination  of  desolation,  a  childless  Church, 
will  be  a  monstrous  impossibility,  of  days  when  each 
Sabbath  morning  the  people  will  gather  in  our  chapels 
to  welcome  the  hopeful  stir  of  fresh  young  life  and  the 
promise  of  its  future  and  its  endless  possibilities,  and 
when,  instead  of  disheartened  ministers,  and  diminish- 
ing companies  of  depressed  worshippers,  we  shall  have 
children  and  young  men  and  maidens  to  bring  their 
joy  and  their  thanksgiving  and  their  devotion  to  Him 
Who  loved  us  and  loosed  us  from  our  sins  in  His  own 
blood,  and  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God.  Then 
will  be  blessedly  fulfilled  the  great  prophetic  word, 
"  All  thy  children  shall  be  taught  of  the  Lord  ;  and 
great  shall  be  the  peace  of  thy  children  !  " 

The   Undying  Gospel. 

/CHRIST  came  nearly  two  thousand  years  ago  to 
^^  set  the  world  on  fire — has  He  done  it  ?  He 
has  kindled  a  fire  ;  that  cannot  be  denied.  The  years 
are  years  of  the  Lord.  But  will  it  go  out  ?  Many 
hope  that  it  will.  They  do  their  best  to  extinguish  it. 
First  put  it  out,  some  of  them  are  telling  us,  and  you 
will  see  what  our  science  and  politics  will  do  for  you. 
Many  fear  it.  They  give  heed  to  despairing  voices 


VISIONS  255 

at  home  and  abroad  and  see  the  fire  languishing  and 
dying.  But  it  shall  never  go  out.  It  is  burning,  and 
it  will  spread  till  the  whole  world  is  caught  and 
wrapped  in  its  flames 

Christ  Eternal. 

THERE  is  no  future  for  Christianity,  as  there 
would  be  no  past  and  no  present,  unless  the 
living  Lord  Himself  is  united  to  every  soul  that  trusts 
Him,  and  unless,  through  His  Spirit,  He  ministers 
grace  to  each,  day  by  day.  It  is  because  the  living 
union  of  the  soul  with  Christ  is  no  dead  bygone  thing, 
but  a  thing  in  which  we  may  share,  that  the  Church 
survives.  It  is  because  Christ  is  the  Lord  of  the 
present  and  the  future  that  He  continues  to  fill  the  past. 
The  other  personalities  of  history  come  and  go,  but 
He  remains  and  will  remain  in  the  evening  of  the 
world — the  One  Solitary  Figure  against  the  daffodil 
sky. 

"  Refuge  !  " 

HOW  the  world  may  end,  none  of  us  knows.  The 
close  may  be  in  a  great  Armageddon,  but 
Christ  and  His  brotherhood — those  who  embrace 
Him  by  faith,  those  who  have  taken  the  Bread  and 
Wine  believingly — they  are  saved.  If  the  world  is 
to  go  on  in  the  hope  of  progress  and  love,  and  of  all 
those  things  that  make  life  fair,  Christ  is  the  only 
leader,  and  there  is  no  Christ  but  the  Christ  Who  said, 
"  Take,  eat ;  this  is  My  Body  broken  for  you."  Yes, 


256          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

we  must  expect  a  time  of  keen  controversy  and  heart- 
searching  trouble.  So  far  as  it  is  settled,  it  will  only 
be  settled  by  Christian  influence.  There  is  little 
present  prospect,  but  we  must  hope.  We  may  be  sure 
that  in  our  lifetime  at  least  there  will  be  troubles 
manifold.  We  are  not  to  wonder  at  this.  "  Arise 
ye  and  depart,  for  this  is  not  your  rest  "  are  words  that 
still  hold  good,  but  from  the  community  of  the  Church 
Militant  there  go  over  continually  the  troubled  and 
weary  souls  that  are  to  be  welcomed  to  the  Church 
Triumphant. 

In  my  boyhood  there  was  a  revival  in  our  village, 
and  I  remember,  still,  snatches  of  the  spiritual  songs 
which  were  favourites  at  that  time.  One  of  them 
had  words  like  this  : 

"  On  the  other  side  of  Jordan, 
In  the  sweet  fields  of  Eden, 
Where  the  tree  of  life  is  blooming, 
There  is  rest  for  the  weary, 
There  is  rest  for  you." 


Mortals  and  Immortals. 

TAR.  WILLIAM  BARRY  prophesied  some  years 
•*-^  ago  that  all  parties,  governments,  and  even 
religions,  will  be  divided  by  one  clear  line  between  the 
Mortals  and  the  Immortals — between  those  who 
measure  values  by  their  relation  to  death  which  cuts 
off  hope,  and  those  who  believe  in  the  life  everlasting. 
The  victory  of  faith  is  sure.  Unbelief,  in  whatever 
form  it  clothes  itself,  ends  at  the  hateful  cypresses 
which  lift  themselves  above  a  vanishing  world. 


VISIONS  257 

England  and  America. 

TT7E  look  forward  to  a  day  when,  in  a  great  federa- 
tion of  peace  and  amity,  the  English-speaking 
lands  will  be  united — when  there  will  be  two  ruling 
Christian  nations  to  secure  and  guard  the  peaceful 
progress  of  the  world.  This  is  the  consummation  most 
devoutly  to  be  wished  for,  and  those  who  believe  in  it 
and  long  for  and  work  for  it  are  not  mere  dreamers. 
They  dream  of  that  which  is  to  come. 


1—17 


GOOD  CHEER 

"  Narrow  ways  are  well  to  tread 
When  there's  moss  beneath  the  footsteps, 
Honeysuckle  overhead." 

From  a  favourite  quotation. 

The  Comforter. 

/  I  VHAT  so  many  a  lonely  heart  is  kept  in  perfect 
-*•  peace,  that  the  hope  of  the  future  is  still  so 
fresh  and  sure,  is  proof  that  Christ  has  redeemed  His 
word.  He  has  not  left  us  comfortless  j  He  has  come 
to  us. 

Our  Hope  for  the  Future. 

THAT  the  Christian  possession  of  peace  is  not 
strikingly  evident  to  the  world  is  unquestion- 
able. That  many  who  should  have  it  miss  it,  is  equally 
plain.  But  the  tendency  at  present  is  to  forget  that 
the  deepest  part  of  the  Christian  life  must  on  earth 
be  hidden.  Its  light  must  be  pale  in  the  lamp  of  clay. 
The  doors  of  expression  are  too  narrow  for  its  sights 
and  sounds  ;  and  even  if  they  were  not,  the  eye  sees 
what  it  has  the  capacity  of  seeing  and  no  more.  If 
Christ  returned  and  lived  thirty  years  as  in  Nazareth, 
at  the  house  next  us,  would  we,  would  the  neighbours, 
take  Him  for  anything  wonderful  ?  Let  the  reader 
think,  how  little  anyone  knows  the  deepest  things 

258 


GOOD  CHEER  259 

in  his  own  life.  The  day  of  manifestation  will  come, 
when  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  will  shine  forth,  and 
the  Christian  life  be  laid  bare  from  its  roots  upward. 
Till  then  it  is  all  the  years  a  mystery,  and  at  death 
it  is  only  hidden  a  little  deeper  with  Christ  in  God. 


Joy  Out  of  Thanks. 

OF  worldly  reverses,  as  of  all  clouds,  we  may  say 
that  it  is  down  their  dim  and  misty  slopes  that 
the  angels  of  purity  and  peace  often  draw  near. 

In  His  Hands. 

A  HOLY  Power  is  at  the  roots  of  life — measur- 
ing itself  with  flesh  and  blood  and  the  rulers 
of  darkness.  God  is  not  a  mere  spectator  :  He  is 
present  in  this  clash  of  spiritual  armies,  His  life  is 
everywhere  at  work,  counteracting  death.  His  minis- 
try in  the  deepest  places  of  the  redeemed  soul  goes 
ceaselessly  forward,  and  thereby  He  revives  within 
His  people  the  ever-fading  sense  of  His  kingdom  and 
power  and  glory. 

The  Certainties  of  Hope. 

'TTVHE  death  of  romance  is  the  worst  death  of  all, 
J-  but  those  who  are  filled  with  the  certainties 
of  a  noble  faith,  who  always  have  in  their  ears  the 
words  of  Jesus,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the  days," 
have  an  enthusiasm  that  remains.  It  does  not  need 


260          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

to  be  fed  by  men's  praises.  When  the  freshness  of 
youth  has  gone  it  abides  :  wearing  still  the  many- 
coloured  robe  ;  the  old  sunshine  falling  on  it,  and  the 
old  charm  remaining. 

Life  till  the  End. 

IN  Christ  our  youth  is  renewed  like  the  eagle's. 
Time  flows  on,  bringing  his  appointed  signs. 
But  grey  hairs  and  diminished  strength  bear  false 
witness  against  us  if  we  are  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Whatever  the  past  has  been,  the  future  may  be  better. 
If  it  has  been  barren  and  faithless,  there  is  time  to  repair 
it ;  if  it  has  been  full  of  trust  and  labour,  the  time  to 
come  may  be  marked  by  faith  more  peaceful  and 
labour  more  abundant.  Age  need  touch  our  spirits 
as  little  as  it  touched  the  young  angels  in  the  holy 
grave,  and  life  before  God  may  be  an  ascent  from  height 
to  height  till  we  appear  at  last  in  Zion. 

To  those  who  Faint. 

/COMPASSION  is  the  first  word  which  describes 
>-*  the  spirit  of  Christ.  It  is  a  deep  word — deeper 
almost  than  love,  as  the  mother  knows  who  has  seen 
her  child  in  the  delirium  of  fever. 

Condemning  None. 

TS  the  truth  about  a  man  simply  the  truth  about  his 
-*-  present  failures  and  sins  ?  Suppose  all  these  are 
known  at  their  worst,  is  this  a  complete  knowledge  of 
the  man  ?  No.  Knowing  a  man  thus  we  may  know 


GOOD  CHEER  261 

him  as  little  as  the  dogs  that  licked  the  sores  of  Lazarus 
knew  of  the  sweet  soul  that  was  carried  by  the  angels 
into  Abraham's  bosom. 

Believers. 

A  S  the  natural  force  abates,  we  shall  be  reinforced 
**•  with  life  from  its  Prince  and  Fountain,  and 
when  we  are  called  to  take  the  great  journey,  another 
will  go  with  us — One  who  knows  the  way. 

The  Christian  Ecstasy. 

GRACE  is  the  New  Testament  word  for  force  ; 
and  there  are  hours  in  every  Christian  life  when 
the  power  of  the  Risen  Christ  is  manifestly  victorious 
over  suffering  and  weakness.  His  love  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Against  the  most 
terrible  antagonists  faith  makes  her  triumph  good. 
When  the  fiery  pillar  of  hope,  followed  through  eager 
years,  turns  its  dark  side  ;  a  strange  buoyancy  fills  the 
spirit  ;  we  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God.  We 
stand  by  the  fresh  grave,  and  look  up  to  see  a  deeper 
rift  in  heaven.  When  it  seems  as  if  the  earthly  life 
with  its  strength  and  courage  were  slipping  away  from 
us,  we  look  into  the  air,  not  empty  of  light,  and  see  the 
descending  city  of  God. 

What  is  Possible. 

TT  is  by  saving  ourselves  that  we  save  others,  and 
-*•  only  so.  Work  out  your  own  salvation  :  that  is 
our  first  business.  It  is  indeed  the  one  business  of 


262         COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

life  which  is  ours,  our  own.     Nor  could  anything  be 
shallower  than  the  notion  that  this  is  selfish  work. 

To  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  be  filled  with 
power.  It  is  to  be  uplifted,  relieved,  vitalised,  so  that 
all  life  and  every  word  becomes  an  effectual  ministry 
of  the  Gospel.  We  all  know  it. 


Strength  and  Safety. 

THAT  He  is  able  to  keep — not  that  we  are  able — 
is  the  secret  of  Christianity. 

"Nearer  than  Breathing" 

THAT  so  many  a  lonely  heart  is  kept  in  perfect 
peace,  that  the  hope  of  the  future  is  still  so 
fresh  and  sure,  is  proof  that  Christ  has  redeemed  His 
word.  The  narrow  room  is  filled  with  the  fragrance 
of  the  Tree  of  Life.  He  has  not  left  us  comfortless  ; 
He  has  come  to  us. 

The  Smoking  Flax. 

TT  would  be  very  hard  to  construct  an  apology  for 
-•*  Christianity  out  of  the  conduct  of  average  Chris- 
tians. There  are  multitudes  who  are  good  and 
lovable,  but  spiritually  commonplace.  There  are 
many  who  are  good  in  a  hard,  dry  way,  but  not  lovable. 
There  are  many  who  are  effusive  in  spiritual  things, 
but  who  have  a  poor  standard  of  life.  Sometimes  they 
are  avaricious  and  mean,  sometimes  they  are  narrow 


GOOD  CHEER  263 

and  uncharitable.  Sometimes  they  seem  to  be  with- 
out that  high  sense  of  honour  which  often  characterises 
the  natural  man.  What  can  be  said  about  them  is 
that  the  eternal  life  is  within  them  in  germ.  It  has 
much  to  fight  with,  but  it  will  not  yield.  God  has 
revealed  Himself  in  these  still  dark  and  struggling 
souls.  Their  faces  are  set  towards  Him,  and  the 
spark  will  one  day  be  a  great  light. 


yesusy  still  lead  on. 

LET  us  have  all  the  more  confidence  in  the  end, 
if  we  must  have  less  in  the  way.  The  ap- 
pointed end  is  sure,  though  the  time  and  track  of 
progress  may  be  and  will  be  at  variance  with  our  hopes 
and  dreams.  Jesus  has  yet  many  things  to  say  to  us  \ 
we  could  not  bear  them  now. 

The  Sacred  Colours  Luminous. 

f  I  VO  the  faithful,  Christ  vouchsafes  glimpses  of 
sunshine  in  the  grey  weather  ;  when  all  is 
done  there  is  often  the  lustre  of  a  great  light.  St. 
Paul  forgot  the  weary  march,  and  the  cold  bivouac,  and 
the  frequent  repulse,  as  his  days  of  ceaseless,  earnest, 
serious  zeal  gathered  themselves  together  to  be  poured 
out  as  a  drink-offering  before  God.  Life  had  come 
to  its  holy  Saturday — the  eve  of  the  resurrection — 
and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  shone  round  about  him. 
He — even  he — saw  the  sacred  colours  luminous 
through  age  and  death. 


264          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

Wild  dark  Sorrows. 

T  TOW  often  wild  dark  sorrows  show  themselves 
-*-  A  at  iast  the  f^  enlightened  work  of  God  !  The 
heart  may  be  wondrously  revived  and  quieted,  and  a 
new  happiness  may  link  itself  with  the  old. 

As  Poor^  yet  Rich. 

"  T  TE  is  never  so  completely  victorious  over  the 

•*•  -*•  world  as  when  He  bows  His  head  to  the 
world,  and  takes  the  worst  that  it  can  do  !  " 

Such  is  His  death.  Resting  in  it  as  an  atonement, 
we  become  conformed  to  its  spirit — which  is  the  spirit 
of  patience,  love,  and  trust.  "  The  greatest  of  these  is 
love."  "  Trust  in  God  is  the  last  of  all  things,  and  the 
whole  of  all  things." 

The  Christian  "  No  More" 

WE  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  willingness  to  be 
ministered  to  may  in  certain  cases  be  the  most 
touching  and  perfect  form  of  self-abnegation. 

Nor  do  Christians  fear  to  recall  the  joys  behind 
them.  They  shut  the  door  softly  on  the  gladness 
that  is  over,  and  look  forward.  No  chill  need  fall  on 
the  happy  hours — they  will  be  our  own  again.  Christ 
Himself  had  his  "  No  more,"  but  all  the  sadness  went 
as  He  thought  of  reunion.  "  I  will  not  drink  hence- 
forth of  this  fruit  of  the  vine  till  I  drink  it  new  with 
you  in  My  Father's  kingdom."  So  the  Christian 
"  No  more  "  is  only  till  "  the  day  in  the  Kingdom  of 
God." 


GOOD  CHEER  265 

St.  Paul's  Triumph. 

HAVE  kept  the  faith."     Not  as  a  treasure  out- 


i 


side  of  himself,  not  as  a  jewel  in  a  casket.  He 
kept  the  faith  as  myrrh  in  his  bosom,  as  a  joy  within  his 
heart.  Thus  the  things  of  time  had  no  power  to 
chill  his  soul  or  damp  his  hope.  He  was  never  at  the 
mercy  of  the  winds  ;  his  courage  did  not  rise  or  fall 
with  the  thermometer.  Below  all  traces  of  age  and 
weariness  up  sprang  the  inexhaustible  fountains  of 
life. 

Good  Folk  Everywhere. 

T  TOW  much  worth,  fidelity,  and  purity  may  live 
•*•  J.  in  the  human  heart  !  Have  I  not  known  it 
even  from  the  beginning  ?  Wherever  you  live,  if 
you  have  open  eyes,  you  may  see  it — in  the  stillness  and 
in  the  "  loud  stunning  tide."  I  have  looked  deep 
into  the  hearts  of  some  men  and  women,  and  found 
them  pure  to  the  last  recesses. 

When  Some  Men  Succeed. 

T  HAVE  witnessed  repeatedly  and  near  at  hand 
-*•  the  fortunes  of  young  men  who  became  famous 
almost  as  suddenly  as  Byron  did.  It  might  well  raise 
one's  whole  estimate  of  human  nature  to  witness  the 
genuine  modesty,  simplicity,  humility,  and  kindness 
which  were  carried  unaltered  through  the  novel  and 
testing  strain.  I  have  seen  such  success  make  men 
more  humble  and  more  anxious  to  do  the  best  that  ever 
they  could. 


266          COMFORT  AND  HOPE 

Our  Country. 

THE  British  nation,  we  are  inclined  to  believe, 
is  a  great  deal  better  and  sounder  than  many 
of  its  shrillest  censors  of  the  moment.     And  for  our 
part  we  find  among  our  patient,  brave,  and  silent 
people  great  seed-beds  of  trust  and  hope. 

Old  Acquaintance. 

I  CAN  call  up  one  venerable  figure  after  another  of 
whom  I  could  say  with  assurance,  "  He  never 
did  naething  that  wasna'  well  intended."     To  know 
the  higher  natures  of  the  world,  the  students  of  my  time 
did  not  need  to  go  beyond  their  own  parishes. 


VI.    THINKING  IT  OVER. 


SOME  RECOLLECTIONS 

I  have  had  endkss  orrasion  to  be  grateful  to  tboie  wbo  bare 


"  They  have  never  reminded  me  of  that  Undoes!  by  a  word,  or 
even  a  look." 


/»  <z  Northern  KUage. 

ONE  man  is  able  to  remember  die  way  of  his 
definite  conversion  at  eight  years  of  age.  He 
was  born  in  a  deeply  Christian  home,  and  subject  to 
all  its  influences.  When  the  revival  swept  the 
country,  the  child  attended  the  meetings,  and  learned 
the  hymns.  One  evening  there  came  home  to  him 
distinctly  the  words  of  one  hymn  : 

"  He  is  my  Prophet,  Priest,  and  King, 

Vvho  did  to  me  salvation  l^^gj 
And  while  I  five  IH  always  sing. 


At  that  moment  Christ  suddenly  seemed  alive,  ready 
to  take  the  young  life  into  His  keeping,  and  it  was 
given.  What  could  the  child  know  of  the  offices 
of  the  Redeemer  ?  He  could  not  tell  how  Christ 
executes  His  offices  as  a  Prophet,  a  Priest,  and  a  King, 
He  simply  knew  in  the  divine  way  that  Christ  was  his 
Lord  and  Friend.  There  was  no  excitement,  no  keen 
feeling,  but  the  quiet  and  peaceful  recognition  of  a 
feet. 


27o  THINKING  IT  OVER 

The  Discoverer  of  Heaven. 

f  KNEW  an  old  minister  who  had  great  happiness 
•*•  in  his  later  years  after  reading  Ruskin.  He  said 
Ruskin  had  enabled  him  to  discover  the  sky,  and  so 
his  life  was  doubled. 

College  Days  in  Aberdeen. 

FT  was  strange  and  pleasant  to  see  the  strong  affec- 
•*-  tion  between  Dr.  Lumsden  and  his  young  col- 
league, Robertson  Smith.  Smith  was  then  a  mere 
youth,  twenty-four  or  twenty- five.  Lumsden  per- 
ceived at  once  his  great  qualities,  his  loyalty  to  the 
Free  Church,  and  the  immense  potencies  lodged  in 
him.  Smith  responded  to  the  old  man's  affection  with 
warm  and  eager  tenderness.  They  had  many  things 
in  common — both  were  vehement  Calvinists  and 
equally  vehement  in  their  Free  Churchism.  It  was 
a  real  pleasure  to  see  the  two  drifting  amicably  down 
Union-street. 

Dr.  Alexander  Bain  of  Aberdeen. 

FN  appearance  he  recalled  Democritus  in  Burton's 
•**  jfnatomy  of  Melancholy,  though  he  was  not  old 
at  the  time,  "  a  little  wearish  old  man,  somewhat 
melancholy  by  nature,  averse  to  company  in  his  latter 
days,  and  much  given  to  solitude."  His  scanty  locks 
of  hair  were  thriftily  spread  over  his  bald  cranium. 
He  wore  no  moustache,  his  chin  was  shaven,  and  his 


SOME  RECOLLECTIONS         271 

face  was  surrounded  with  thick  black  hair.  Thus 
his  mouth  was  clear.  His  eyes  and  his  mouth  gave 
a  certain  impression  of  weariness  and  disenchantment. 
The  face  was  not  sad,  either  tragically  or  poetically. 
Its  expression  seemed  to  say  :  "  Most  things  in  life 
are  irksome,  teaching  is  irksome  to  me  and  learning 
to  you.  But  we  have  to  do  our  work  without  whining. 
I  shall  do  mine,  and  I  shall  see  that  you  do  yours." 

Assembly  Clerks. 

THE  two  most  prominent  figures  in  the  Assembly 
after  the  Moderator  were  the  clerks,  who  sat 
at  a  table  in  front  of  the  chair,  facing  one  another. 
They  were  in  my  time  Sir  Henry  Wellwood  Mon- 
crieff  and  Dr.  William  Wilson.  Sir  Henry  was  the 
minister  of  a  comparatively  small  and  obscure  congre- 
gation in  Edinburgh  :  Dr.  Wilson  was  the  leading 
minister,  perhaps  the  leading  citizen,  in  Dundee. 
They  were  both  portly  and  genial  in  appearance  j 
excellent  business  men  and  without  question  the 
ablest  ecclesiastical  lawyers  in  Scotland.  They  were 
entitled  to  take  part  in  the  business  of  the  house  ;  in 
fact,  they  managed  it,  and  with  consummate  skill. 
Sometimes  they  made  speeches  which  were  always 
listened  to  with  profound  attention.  But  the  mere 
sight  of  them  was  best  of  all.  It  was  better  to  watch 
them  than  to  mind  a  dull  speech.  They  both  took 
snuff,  and  had  large  coloured  silk  handkerchiefs  where- 
with to  meet  the  consequences.  As  a  rule  they  kept 
writing  their  minutes  diligently,  except  when  some 


27z  THINKING  IT  OVER 

great  speech  was  going  on  or  some  beginner  was  get- 
ting through  his  maiden  "  effort,"  when  (for  they  were 
the  kindest  of  men)  they  would  lift  up  broad,  encour- 
aging countenances.  But  when  a  man  was  making 
an  ass  of  himself,  they  would  sometimes  look  at  each 
other  with  an  expression  which  if  I  could  render  it 
on  canvas  would  put  me  in  easy  circumstances  for 
life.  Once  I  saw  their  eyes  meet  when  something 
particularly  absurd  was  going  on,  and  immediately 
after  their  coloured  handkerchiefs  appeared,  and  were 
used  to  cover  their  faces.  It  was  not  snuff,  that  time. 

"But — Mr.   Chairman " 

WE  cannot  help  thinking  that  Dr.  Glover's  well- 
known  perseverance  in  debates  and  com- 
mittees was  partly  due  to  his  training  in  Presbyteri- 
anism,  where  men  were  accustomed  to  rise  to  a  point 
of  order.  One  of  the  most  brilliant  of  Baptists,  after 
referring  affectionately  to  Dr.  Glover,  mentioned  this 
characteristic,  and  said  that  the  words  "  But,  Mr. 
Chairman "  should  be  inscribed  on  his  tomb- 
stone. The  last  time  we  saw  Dr.  Glover  was  in  the 
waiting-room  at  the  Albert  Hall  when  the  great 
Baptist  demonstration  was  held  on  the  attainment 
of  the  quarter  of  a  million  fund.  He  came  up  with  a 
smile  on  his  face  and  said,  "What  are  you  doing  here  ?  " 
The  reply  was  from  the  metrical  psalms  used  in 
Scotland  : 

"  That  I  thy  chosen's  good  may  see 

And  in  their  joy  rejoice, 
And  may  with  thine  inheritance 
Triumph  with  cheerful  voice." 


SOME  RECOLLECTIONS         273 

He  smiled  all  over  his  face.       "I  know  that/'  he  said  ; 
"  you  have  given  a  very  good  reason." 


The  Church  and  Labouchere. 

LABOUCHERE  had  a  real  interest  in  the  Churches 
and  was  friendly  to  them.     I  ought  to  know, 
for  I  wrote  many  of  the  Truth  paragraphs. 

Dr.  Marcus  Dods. 

THE  mere  sight  of  an  envelope  with  his  clear, 
firm  writing  on  it  sent  a  happy  thrill  through 
one. 

Dr.  Pulsford's  Look. 

'VT'OU  might  have  met  him  not  long  ago  in  his 
•••  walks  on  Hampstead  Heath,  straight  as  a  dart, 
with  the  fresh  colour  of  health,  with  the  burden  of 
his  many  years  pressing  upon  him  lightly,  and  yet 
somehow  unmistakably  of  those  "  who  declare 
plainly  that  they  seek  a  country." 

A  Stout  Fellow. 

ONE  of  our  earliest  recollections  is  of  an  old  work- 
ing man,  who  belonged  to  a  little  congregation 
which  had  a  hard  fight.     He  wore  his  Sunday  coat 
year  after  year  till  it  changed  from  black  to  green, 
and  each  week  he  went  to  his  beloved  sanctuary  a 
i— 1 8 


274  THINKING  IT  OVER 

patient,  devout  toiler,  with  wages  that  one  might 
suppose  would  do  little  more  than  keep  body  and  soul 
together.  Yet  somehow  he  managed  to  subscribe 
£5  every  year.  How  he  brought  the  shillings  to- 
gether one  can  hardly  imagine,  but  he  went  on  in  this 
way  till  perforce  he  had  to  give  up  his  toil.  "  I'm  as 
wullin'  to  work  as  ever  I  was,  but  I'm  no'  sae  able." 


COLLIER  OF   MANCHESTER 
A  Deep  Heart. 

AS  one  came  to  know  him  better  his  gifts  grew 
more  visible,  and  they  were  certainly  of  a  most 
notable  kind.  He  had  a  deep  religious  faith  and  a 
heart  for  evangelical  piety.  His  life  was  drawn  from 
deep  wells.  It  was  an  education  to  see  him,  as  I  have 
seen  him,  for  hours  at  his  headquarters,  receiving  and 
dealing  with  the  incessant  troop  of  callers  who  wanted 
from  him  guidance  and  aid.  He  caught  up  the  mean- 
ing of  their  requests  in  a  trice,  and  what  he  could  do 
to  fulfil  them  that  he  did.  He  must  often  have  been 
burdened  by  the  sad  need  which  confronted  him,  but 
of  this  I  never  saw  him  show  a  sign  except  that  some- 
times he  would  say  that  he  had  had  a  long  day.  He 
was  not  distracted  by  the  calls  made  upon  him.  He 
knew  what  he  could  do  and  what  he  could  not  do. 
He  was  eminently  sagacious  in  his  judgments,  no 
party  man  in  any  fanatical  sense,  ripe,  wise,  controlled, 
and  with  a  deep  affectionateness  at  the  bottom  of  his 
nature.  The  mere  sight  of  him  was  a  means  of  grace. 


SOME  RECOLLECTIONS         27$ 

A  Man  with  Eyes. 

MET  the  other  day  an  old  college  companion 
•*•  whom  I  had  not  seen  for  many  years.  He  used 
to  be  a  country  minister,  but  has  long  preached  in 
Melbourne.  We  talked  about  the  difference  between 
the  country  and  the  city,  and  the  desire  of  many  men 
to  get  away  from  the  one  into  the  other.  I  remarked 
that  the  isolation  of  the  country,  the  want  of  congenial 
fellowship,  was  deeply  felt  by  many  who  had  been 
used  to  the  most  perfect  of  friendships — those  between 
fellow  students.  He  replied  that  he  had  never  ex- 
perienced this.  In  his  country  charge  there  were  two 
men  who  satisfied  his  desire  for  society.  One  was  the 
miller  and  one  was  the  schoolmaster.  Both  were 
gifted  and  educated  men,  and  the  miller  especially 
had  a  mind  and  a  way  in  which  Carlyle  would  have 
delighted.  It  is  the  old  story.  We  crane  our  necks 
and  look  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  for  that  which  is 
beside  us. 


In  a  Hampstead  Garden. 

TT7HEN  Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  on  his  last 
visit  to  England  he  stayed  with  Dr.  Parker 
at  Hampstead.  Mrs.  O'Connor  went  up  to  read 
to  Beecher  Nelson  Page's  story,  Marse  Chan.  She 
tells  us  that  Dr.  Parker  objected.  "  Beecher,"  he 
said,  "  you  are  not  going  to  listen  to  a  whole  story  this 
hot  afternoon."  "  Parker,"  Mr.  Beecher  said,  "  I 
am  !  This  is  my  tea-party,  and  I  am  going  to  sit  on 


276  THINKING  IT  OVER 

the  floor  with  my  head  on  mother's  knee  ('  Mother ' 
was  his  wife)  and  I  am  going  to  have  a  good  cry.  If 
you  don't  want  to  listen,  go  out  in  the  garden."  Dr. 
Parker  stationed  himself  by  the  door  ready  to  flee  into 
the  garden,  but  he  never  stirred  until  the  story  was 
finished,  and  even  then  he  was  unable  to  speak  his 
thanks  for  a  few  moments,  while  his  beautiful  wife, 
in  tears,  was  as  deeply  moved  as  Mr.  Beecher  himself. 

About  Matthew  Arnold. 

T  HAVE  had  occasion  to  see  at  one  time  or  another 
-*•  many  letters  written  by  Arnold  to  very  humble 
authors — long  letters  too — answering  with  delicate 
courtesy  the  questions  put  to  him,  and  criticising  care- 
fully. For  this  one  cannot  help  loving  Arnold. 

An  Italian  Trip. 

/~|~AHE  journey  to  Florence  was  wearisome,  though 
•*•  it  was  a  compensation  to  see  Pisa  with  its  tower 
leaning  hard.  It  is  pleasant  to  see  anything  living  up 
to  its  reputation.  I  remembered  Ruskin's  striking 
passage  on  Pisa  in  his  Pr&terita^  where  he  gives  his 
remarkable,  and  so  far  as  I  know,  unnoticed  definition 
of  Christianity. 

A  Visit  to  Baring-Gould. 

T?ROM  Launceston  we  drove  eight  miles  to  Lew 
-*•  Trenchard,  the  residence  of  the  Rev.  S.  Baring- 
Gould.  Mr.  Gould  is  a  striking  instance  of  a  man 


SOME  RECOLLECTIONS         277 

finding  out  late  in  life,  and  almost  by  accident,  what  he 
is  best  fitted  for.  He  had  been  known  as  the  author 
of  innumerable  religious,  semi-religious,  historical, 
biographical,  and  geographical  works  before  he  pub- 
lished his  novel  Mehalah,  but  that  gave  him  a  place  in 
literature  he  had  not  previously  attained. 

Mehalah  is  a  book  which  could  not  have  been 
prophesied  from  any  of  its  predecessors.  The  idea 
of  it  occurred  to  him  when  he  was  rector  of  East 
Mersea,  near  Colchester.  He  could  not  sleep  one 
night  as  he  lay  listening  to  the  weird  sounds  in  the 
Essex  Marshes  ;  the  story  shaped  itself  and  was 
rapidly  written.  It  was  refused  by  several  publishers  ; 
at  last  it  was  accepted  and  bought  for  £50.  It  was  a 
great  success,  and  deservedly  so,  for  it  is  a  book  fit  to 
stand  beside  Wuthering  Heights.  Since  then  Mr. 
Gould  has  gone  on  writing  novels  ;  but  he  does  not 
care  for  the  business.  It  is,  in  fact,  very  irksome 
to  him,  although  when  he  fairly  gets  into  the  story 
he  is  interested  in  his  characters.  He  believes  in  local 
colour,  and  meditates  a  novel  for  every  county  in 
England. 

On  being  asked  how  he  got  through  so  much  work, 
Mr.  Baring-Gould  said  that  system  and  regular  hours 
explained  all.  He  has  a  beautiful  study  with  a  large 
collection  of  books,  and  his  task  is  punctually  accom- 
plished each  day.  At  present  he  is  finishing  a  novel 
which  is  to  appear  in  Good  Words  next  year,  and  writ- 
ing a  book  on  the  Deserts  of  Central  France.  I 
should  be  afraid  to  say  in  what  time  these  tasks  were 
to  be  performed.  I  should  not  be  believed  if  I  did. 


278  THINKING  IT  OVER 

In  Spurge  on"  3  Study. 

TT  was  wonderful  to  see  how  much  stillness  there 
-*•  was  in  Mr.  Spurgeon's  full  and  eager  life.  It  was 
impressive  beyond  words  to  observe  him  in  his  room 
of  commentaries,  all  arranged  in  order,  and  to  know 
how  every  commentary  was  consulted  for  his  text, 
and  how  constantly  he  replenished  his  great  mental 
and  spiritual  wealth. 

Discovery  of  Ian  Maclaren. 

T  TE  came  up  to  London  and  stayed  for  a  few  days 
•*•  A  at  my  house.  ...  I  was  so  much  struck  with 
the  racy  stories  and  the  character  sketches  with  which 
Watson  regaled  us  that  I  suggested  that  he  should 
make  some  articles  out  of  them.  The  idea  had  never 
struck  him,  and  was  at  first  unwelcome.  But  I  kept 
on  persuading  him.  I  had  no  success  till  I  was  accom- 
panying him  to  the  station.  Just  before  he  said  good- 
bye, he  promised  to  try,  and  in  a  few  days  the  sketch 
arrived.  It  was  clever,  but  disappointing.  I  returned 
it  to  Watson,  stating  objections.  He  sent  a  second 
sketch  also  more  or  less  unsatisfactory.  Then  he 
sent  the  first  four  chapters  of  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Bonnie  Briar  Bush  complete,  and  I  knew  on  read- 
ing them  that  his  popularity  was  assured. 

He  was  amazed  by  the  success  of  the  Bonnie  Briar 
Bush.  "  A  cheerful  blaze,"  he  once  remarked,  and 
added  quietly,  "  while  it  lasts." 


RAMBLING  REMARKS 

"  We  are  never  wise,  and  we  never  grow  unless  we  are  more 
interested  in  the  people  we  meet  and  see  and  hear  than  in  our- 
selves. What  does  it  matter  what  happens  to  us  ?  " 

A  Fancy  about  Carlyle. 

T  TOW  would  it  have  been  with  us  if  Thomas 
•*•  -*•  Carlyle  had  become  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland,  as  he  once  purposed  ?  It  was  remarked 
to  me  the  other  day  by  a  distinguished  theological 
professor  that  while  the  Scottish  genius  had  been 
active  and  original  in  philosophy,  it  had  been  singu- 
larly undeveloped  in  theology.  He  attributed  this  to 
the  yoke  of  the  Confession  of  Faith.  I  do  not  know 
how  that  may  be,  but  I  do  know  that  the  country 
parish  has  apparently  extinguished  many  a  bright  life 
of  the  University.  Would  Carlyle' s  light  have  been 
extinguished  ?  I  think  not.  What  a  preacher  the 
man  would  have  been  !  What  would  have  happened 
to  the  Scottish  Church  Universities  if  Carlyle  had 
brought  into  it  his  German  notions  ?  Imagine  him 
in  the  General  Assembly  ! 

College  Days  in  Aberdeen. 

*  I  VHE   time   which,   when   we  look   back,   seems 
made  up  of  diamond  mornings  and  opal  even- 
ings, but  which,  while  it  passed,  was  grey  and  grave 
enough. 

279 


280  THINKING  IT  OVER 

Dean  Farrar. 

T  TE  fought  clericalism  at  a  cost  which  few  can 
•••  -••  adequately  estimate.  Indeed,  to  our  mind, 
Dean  Farrar  was  simply  the  bravest  man  we  ever  knew. 

About  Gladstone. 

*  I  VHE  problem  is  perhaps  whether  Gladstone  was 

-*•        ethically  a  Jesuit. 

Evangelical  Peers. 

T  HAVE  known  two  or  three  peers  who  gave  evan- 
-•*  gelical  addresses,  and  had  a  deep  respect  for 
every  one  of  them.  More  than  that,  I  have  known 
them  to  do  much  good  which  they  never  knew  of. 
They  were  neither  snobs  nor  fools,  nor  did  they  show 
any  particular  liking  for  snobs  or  fools. 

Origin  of  Mansfield. 

TAR.  FAIRBAIRN  was  in  existence,  and  there- 
-*^  fore  Mansfield  College  had  to  be  built  in 
Oxford.  In  other  words,  Dr.  Fairbairn  was  the  final 
cause  of  the  College.  Every  explanation  that  comes 
short  of  this  is  to  be  pronounced  shallow  and  super- 
ficial. 

Glimpses  of  the   Unseen. 

ORGE  MACDONALD'S  faults  are  essen- 

tially  those  of  a  visionary.     His  work  is  often 
blurred  and  hazy.     It  is  seldom  clear  and  firm  for 


RAMBLING  REMARKS  281 

many  pages.     Ere  he  has  quite  caught  it  and  traced 
it,  the  dream  is  gone. 

The  Happiness  of  Robertson  of  Irvine. 

HE  drank  from  so  many  sources  of  delight  that 
perhaps  few  earthly  lives  more  refreshed  and 
comforted  ever  passed  into  the  world  of  spirits. 


BISHOP  WILLIAM  WILBERFORCE 

No  Store  of  Wisdom. 

TT7ILBERFORCE  was  an  early  riser,  he  was 
always  writing,  always  preaching,  always 
travelling,  and  being  a  man  of  fine  gifts,  he  won 
a  great  position.  Yet  his  life  on  the  whole  was  im- 
paired and  disappointed.  He  never  succeeded  in 
achieving  the  place  of  his  ambition.  He  saw  over  and 
over  again  men  preferred  to  him  who  were  con- 
spicuously his  inferiors.  He  came  under  a  general 
suspicion  of  insincerity.  The  Queen  suspected  him, 
and  so  did  many  of  her  subjects.  Yet  I  think  unpre- 
judiced readers  of  his  letters  and  journals  will  see  that 
in  intention  he  was  always  honest.  What  injured 
him  was  that  he  knew  nothing.  He  read  practically 
nothing,  he  was  not  in  any  sense  a  scholar  ;  he  thought 
the  time  spent  in  study  was  wasted  time. 

He  made  a  furious  onslaught  on  Darwin.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  Wilberforce  had  given  moments  to 
science  where  Darwin  had  given  days,  and  his  article 
is  simply  presumptuous  nonsense.  He  rushed  into  a 


282  THINKING  IT  OVER 

fray  about  Bishop  Hampden,  and  it  turned  out  in  the 
end  that  he  had  not  read  Hampden's  books. 


A  Task  that  waits. 

TF  ever  the  life  of  Fox  is  to  be  written  in  a  really 
-*•  satisfactory  manner  it  must  be  by  a  woman  of 
spiritual  genius. 

Certain. 

PEOPLE  make  no  excuses  whatever  for  those  who 
-*•  are  fertile  in  making  excuses  for  themselves. 

Initiate. 

WHOEVER  knows  that  Jesus  Christ  has  opened 
his  eyes  has  a  message  for  all  the  blind. 

The  Innocent  Author. 

GEORGE  MACDONALD  is  one  of  the  children 
who  laugh  and  play  in  their  Father's  House. 

Spiritual  Currents. 

OOMETIMES  an  event  befalls  very  quietly  with 
^  little  interruption  to  the  conversation,  with  little 
perceptible  disturbance  on  the  part  of  those  who  are 
concerned,  and  yet  there  is  the  consciousness  that 
something  for  ever  memorable  has  taken  place. 
Some  cord  has  snapped  that  we  thought  would  hold 
for  ever,  the  gulf  has  opened  which  can  never  be  closed 


RAMBLING  REMARKS  283 

and  never  be  bridged,  and  yet  the  evening  wears  through 
peacefully,  and  we  say  good  night  to  one  another  as 
if  nothing  had  happened. 


Catching  up  Hints. 

E  wisdom  o 

hints  and  make  the  best  of  them. 


'  I  VHE  wisdom  of  life  is  to  know  how  to  catch  up 


Day  by  Day. 

IT  is  a  secret  which  we  learn  slowly — the  secret  of 
living  by  days.     I  am  convinced  that  there  are 
very  few  so  precious. 


The  Grumbler. 

THE  querulous  man  is  the  most  intolerable   of 
associates. 

One  eminent  writer  whom  I  knew  destroyed  his 
career  by  his  fretfulness. 

Real  Lives. 

T  WAS  glad  to  see  the  big  books.  As  one  grows 
-••  older,  life  and  biography  become  more  interesting, 
and  I  had  rather  read  the  story  of  a  good  man's  struggle 
and  victory  than  any  novel. 


After  Long  Experience. 

is   a   rare  thing 
"  Thank  you  "  pleasantly  and  gracefully. 


TT   is   a   rare  thing  to  find  anyone  who  can  say 


284  THINKING  IT  OVER 

On  Courage. 

TTTHAT  is  the  highest  form  of  courage  ?     It  is 
to  be  found,  I  think,  not  in  the  entrance  into 
a  sudden  charge,  but  in  the  deliberate  volunteering 
for  a  long,  it  may  be  a  lifelong,  campaign. 


By  the  Goodness  of  God. 

T  ET  us  make  the  most  of  the  little  we  have,  be 
-•— '  happy  as  soon,  as  much,  and  as  long  as  pos- 
sible. Let  us  begin  to  play  when  three  stars  come  out. 

The  Long  Search. 

HAVE  never  known  any  man  of  whom  I  could 
-*•  say  he  read  too  widely.  I  have  been  looking  out 
for  that  man  all  my  life,  and  have  failed  to  find  him. 

Advice  to  All. 

JT  is  well  to  spend  much  time  in  youth  reading  the 
•*•  best  with  no  ulterior  view.  All  comes  to  its  use 
in  the  end. 

Four  Evils. 

1X/TY  experience  and  observation,  such  as  they  are, 
-L  -*•  have  taught  me  that  four  things  cannot  go 
on — carelessness,  idleness,  extravagance,  and  headi- 
ness. 


RAMBLING  REMARKS  285 

Is  Life  a  Test  of  Power  ? 

f  I  VHE  real  question  is  whether  life  is  a  test  of  power. 
I  cannot  believe  it.  Nothing  that  has  hap- 
pened has  ever  altered  in  the  least  my  conviction  that 
the  ablest  man  in  my  class,  and  the  ablest  man  I  have 
ever  known,  was  one  whose  name,  if  I  were  to  print 
it,  not  a  hundred  of  your  readers  would  recognise. 
Some  who  have  little  do  much  with  it  ;  others 
never  speak  out,  never  speak  at  all.  The  University 
may  have  been  more  nearly  right  in  its  estimate  than 
life  ;  and  both  may  be  wrong.  We  are  not  yet  come 
to  the  last  tribunal. 

Sheer  Laziness. 

TT  would  be  very  uncomfortable  to  walk  sixty  feet  on 
•*•  a  narrow  plank.  Yet  this  is  what  many  people 
are  doing.  There  is  no  margin  in  their  knowledge. 

Retrospect. 

THE    sources    of  failure   are,    I    think,    mainly 
timidity,  temper,  vanity,  indolence,  and  want 
of  adaptability,  and  these  are  so  subtly  intermingled 
that  it  is  often  difficult  to  distinguish  between  them. 

Be  Scrupulous. 

JUDGE  a  man  by  what  he  does,  and  not  by  the 
way  in  which  he  does  it.     The  latter  is  his 
business  ;    it   is  not  yours.     We  shall  always 
want  people  like  John  Stuart  Mill  to  write  books 
about  liberty. 


286  THINKING  IT  OVER 

Failure. 

"|\/TORALISTS,  so  far  as  I  remember,  have  hardly 
-*-*-*•  studied  sufficiently  the  effect  of  prolonged 
discouragement  on  the  human  spirit.  It  acts  upon 
some  natures  like  poison. 

Mrs.  Oliphant. 

*  I  SO  one  faith  she  was  unswervingly  true — the 
•*•  faith  that  it  is  better  to  live  in  the  full  sense 
than  to  vegetate.  Sorrow,  pain,  conflict,  labour — she 
understood  what  these  things  were,  but  she  deliberately 
elected  to  have  them  instead  of  a  monotonous,  unper- 
turbed, solitary  existence.  For  to  suffer  was  to  live. 
We  hope  that  someone  fit  for  the  task  will  collect  and 
digest  from  her  books  her  excellent  wisdom  upon  the 
conduct  of  life. 

When  Offended. 

TF  we  have  taken  what  we  think  reasonable  offence 
-**  at  the  doings  of  a  friend,  we  ought  not  to  show  it 
by  an  icy  manner.  It  is  our  business  to  explain  to 
our  friend  where  he  has  apparently  come  short,  and  to 
hear  what  he  says  about  it.  In  all  probability  with 
his  explanation  the  misunderstanding  will  pass  like  a 
summer  cloud. 

The  Mystery  of  the   Unsuccessful. 

SIR  WALTER  SCOTT  said  once,  very  patheti- 
cally, that  no  one  flourished  under  his  shadow. 
There  are  those  whose  shadow  seems  to  carry  fortune 


RAMBLING  REMARKS          287 

with  it.  They  may  not  be  particularly  successful 
themselves,  but  everyone  who  is  associated  with  them 
profits  by  the  association.  Such  things  cannot  be 
explained.  I  am  convinced  that  about  a  great  many 
comparative  failures  in  life  we  can  only  say  that  some- 
how things  have  always  been  against  them. 


THE  INNERMOST  ROOM 

"  The  religion  that  we  need  is  a  religion  that  will  lay  all  the 
ghosts,  that  will  cast  the  instruments  of  torture  from  the  inner- 
most room,  that  will  divide  the  great  glooms,  and  make  it  a  place 
of  repair. 

"  I  love  to  think  of  the  solitude  of  the  soul.  There  is  no  char- 
acterisation of  human  beings  that  is  more  hateful  and  more  false 
than  the  common  saying  that  there  is  nothing  in  them.  There  is 
the  innermost  room.  Every  human  soul  is  a  mystery  to  the  soul 
that  knows  it  best,  and  should,  therefore,  be  held  sacred. 
Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  it." 


The  Duty  of  Life. 

*  I  VHE  first  thing  is  to  be  true,  to  labour  with  a 
•*•  sweet,  composed,  invincible  energy  till  you 
love  your  work  and  rejoice  in  your  work.  That,  no 
doubt,  is  the  true  path  to  what  people  call  success  ; 
but  I  should  much  rather  say  that  it  is  in  itself  success. 

i 

The  Hidden  Self. 

T  BELIEVE  that  every  human  being  has  an  inner- 
-*•  most  room  in  his  soul,  into  which  he  never 
admits  anyone — perhaps  because  he  cannot.  When  a 
boy,  I  was  deeply  impressed  by  a  passage  in  John 
Foster's  Journal  in  which  he  says  that  when  he 
entered  a  company  he  was  often  shy  at  first,  but  was 
reassured  when  he  bethought  himself  that,  after  all, 
no  eyes  could  see  what  was  passing  within  his  soul. 

288 


THE  INNERMOST  ROOM        289 

It  is  true  we  are  not  known  even  when  we  are  well 
known,  by  those  who  live  with  us,  by  those  who  are 
bound  to  us  by  the  firmest  ties,  or  by  those  who  have 
shared  with  us  the  closest  intimacies  of  friendship. 
We  have  deep  secrets,  all  of  us,  even  though  there  is 
nothing  in  our  lives  over  which  we  try  to  cast  a  veil. 
We  are  not  known  even  when  we  die,  and  all  that 
can  be  revealed  is  revealed,  when  the  secret  drawer  in 
our  desk  is  opened,  and  the  lock  of  the  child's  hair, 
"  hair  that  drained  the  sun  for  gold,"  the  two  or  three 
faded  letters,  the  ring,  the  photograph,  have  all  been 
looked  upon  reverently  or  irreverently.  Our  secret 
has  died  with  us.  They  have  not  spared  Charlotte 
Bronte.  They  have  published  almost  every  scrap  of 
her  handwriting,  and  sold  almost  every  one  of  her 
few  possessions,  and  criticised  her,  and  theorised  upon 
her  without  stint.  But  her  secret  went  with  her,  I 
have  no  manner  of  doubt. 


ii 

Its  Furnishings. 

T  OOK  around  the  innermost  room,  and  you  cannot 
-*— '  explain  how  it  has  been  built  and  furnished. 
It  has  built  and  furnished  itself.  You  gaze  at  its 
pictures,  its  trinkets,  its  stains  of  blood,  with  a  dull 
wonder  at  the  sight  of  them.  These,  you  think, 
should  not  be  there.  Other  things  should  be  there 
that  have  been  of  more  consequence.  There  have 
been  days  in  your  life,  apparently  much  more  important 
days,  that  all  may  know  of,  when  you  were  crowned 
1—19 


29o  THINKING  IT  OVER 

in  the  eyes  of  men,  or  visibly  struck  to  the  earth  in 
humiliation  or  woe.  How  has  it  come  to  pass  that 
these  days  are  not  recorded  in  the  innermost  room  ? 
There  are  faces  that  you  have  gazed  into  for  years  and 
years,  and  these  have  vanished  ;  but  on  the  walls  of 
the  innermost  room  other  faces  are  hanging.  The 
stress  is  not  laid  where  observers  might  think  it  should 
be  laid,  where  you  think  yourself  it  should  lie.  Life, 
as  it  shapes  itself  to  you  in  the  innermost  room,  has 
its  days,  its  ghosts,  its  treasures,  but  how  they  have 
ranked  and  ranged  themselves  there  you  do  not  know, 
and  therefore  can  never  tell.  That  is  why  you  can- 
not admit  others  into  the  innermost  room,  though 
you  were  ever  so  willing  to  bring  them.  There  may 
be  nothing  to  hide,  but  somehow  no  one  can  enter, 
because  the  door  will  open  to  none  but  yourself.  You 
know  that  none  may  enter  it  now,  and  yet  fancy  that 
once  there  were  those  who  entered  it  with  you,  and 
sigh  for  their  presence. 

It  is  a  dream.     The  door  was  as  fast  to  the  dead  as 
it  is  to  the  living. 


A  PAIR  OF   SPECTACLES 

Their  Many   Uses. 

i 

ON  the  eyes  of  the  soul  we  must  put  the  spectacles 
of  charity — to  use  a  word  which  has  a  wide 
stretch  of  meaning.  To  begin  with  its  full  sense  of 
love.  There  is  nothing  more  derided  than  the  rap- 
tures of  a  young  affection.  But  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  any  people  in  the  world  are  so  wise  as  young, 
true  lovers.  They  see  the  best  in  each  other,  that 
best  which  may  in  the  end  be  victorious  over  all  that 
mars  and  flaws  it,  and  outlast  every  evil  element. 
For  love  not  only  sees,  but  draws  out.  It  brings  into 
action  the  highest  energies  of  the  soul,  and  calls  forth 
its  deep  and  shrouded  beauties.  They  are  happy 
indeed  who  maintain  that  vision  through  the  tests  and 
trials  of  life.  You  will  remember  Emerson's  signi- 
ficant parable,  Each  and  All. 

"  The  lover  watched  his  graceful  maid, 
As  'mid  the  virgin  train  she  strayed, 
Nor  knew  her  beauty's  best  attire 
Was  woven  still  by  the  snow-white  choir. 
At  last  she  came  to  his  hermitage, 
Like  the  bird  from  the  woodlands  to  the  cage  : 
The  gay  enchantment  was  undone, 
A  gentle  wife,  but  fairy  none." 

That  is  not  the  end  of  the  story  if  it  is  a  story  of  true 
love.     "  Love  is  believing,  and  the  best  is  truest." 
i — 19*  291 


292  THINKING  IT  OVER 

II 

TO  look  aright  on  human  beings  we  must  wear 
the  spectacles  of  an  indulgent  kindliness.  It 
is  in  this  way  we  shall  get  the  best  and  the  most  out 
of  the  world.  There  is  a  mawkish,  silly,  and  indecent 
charity,  but  there  are  those  who,  without  folly  and 
without  untruth,  can  think  of  what  may  be  pleaded  in 
mitigation  of  the  worst  of  offenders. 

in 

T  HAVE  always  liked  very  much  the  Spaniard  who 
-^  was  partial  to  cherries,  and  put  on  spectacles  to 
eat  them  in  order  that  they  might  look  bigger. 

IV 

I  AM  certain  that  there  is  no  more  fruitful  cause 
of  misery  and  mischief  and  injustice  than  pre- 
judice. We  need  to  have  a  special  fear  of  ourselves 
when  we  come  to  speak  or  write  of  those  who  have 
opposed  us,  and  perhaps  injured  us.  Then  the  spec- 
tacles of  fear  that  are  always  looking  into  the  future 
and  seeing  a  lion  in  every  mouse  should  be  smashed  in 
pieces.  We  cannot  see  into  the  future,  and  the  best 
provision  we  can  make  for  it  is  to  live  the  days  wisely 
as  they  pass. 


A  HUMBLE   AND    FERVENT   WISH 

T  T  T  HEN  we  die  I  suppose  most  of  us  will  be  found 
to  have  cherished  a  very  few  things.  When 
the  desk  is  opened  the  possessions  that  have  perhaps 
mattered  most  will  be  discovered.  Then  there  will 
be  surprises.  In  the  life  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes  we 
are  told  that  he  kept  very  few  letters,  but  in  searching 
through  his  desk  his  wife  came  upon  one  from  Dr. 
Jenkins.  Mr.  Hughes  after  a  fierce  controversy 
sent  in  his  resignation  to  the  President  of  his  Church. 
Dr.  Jenkins  wrote  an  affectionate  and  earnest  dissua- 
sion, beseeching  him  not  to  take  that  step.  Very 
likely  this  letter  meant  more  to  Mr.  Hughes  than 
any  of  the  costly  gifts  he  received  and  deserved.  If 
I  were  to  covet  any  honour  of  authorship  it  would  be 
this — that  some  letters  of  mine  might  be  found  in  the 
desks  of  my  friends  when  their  life  struggle  is  ended. 


293 


A  SUMMING-UP 

Who  shall  Separate    Us? 

MAY  we  not  find  comfort  in  the  thought  that  the 
suffering  about  which  we  cannot  talk  to  any 
human  being  is  not  only  known  by  Christ,  but  it  is 
also  felt  by  Christ  ?  Is  there  not  comfort  also  in  the 
thought  that,  in  Christ,  we  are  joined  to  the  great 
mystical  body,  and  things  are  rough  with  us  that  they 
may  be  lighter  for  others  ?  Every  Christian  sorrow, 
however  dumb  and  obscure,  wins  something,  or  carries 
something  away  from  another. 

Make  room  for  Christ.  The  true  union  is  when  He 
takes  the  place  of  us,  when  He  is  within  us,  as  a  second 
self,  a  second  heart,  a  second  conscience.  That  is 
the  realisation  of  the  union.  But  often  we  are  not 
conscious  that  the  union  exists,  though  it  is  there. 
Christ  lives  within  us,  waking  or  sleeping,  living  or 
dying.  Let  us  make  room  for  Christ,  that  we  may 
be  counted  worthy  to  obtain  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead. 


294 


J.J. 
I 


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